18-year-old Raj Limbani enters record books with 7 wickets as India crush Nepal

Fast bowler Raj Limbani produced an incisive spell to record the brilliant figures of 7/13 as India cruised to a 10-wicket victory over Nepal to clinch a semi-final berth in the U-19 Asia Cup cricket tournament here on Tuesday. After shooting out Nepal for just 52 runs in 22.1 overs, courtesy Limbani's superb performance, all-rounder Arshin Kulkarni (43 not out), kept the IPL scouts interested with five huge sixes to knock off the runs in just 7.1 overs.

Raj Limbani is sure to make a few heads turn in IPL 2024 auction after this stellar show(ACC)

Having lost to arch-rivals Pakistan by eight wickets in an earlier game, India colts, led by Uday Saharan, needed to win their final league game to qualify for the knock-out stage and they absolutely dominated the proceedings against the boys from Himalayan nation. Nepal were already out of contention after losing both their group league game but their worst was saved for the last with none of their players getting into double digits.

Limbani, the lanky 18-year-old right-armer from Baroda, who primarily bowls inswingers at mid-120s, didn't let any of the Nepalese batters settle down and pitched it up, getting sufficient movement. However, Limbani's 7/13 isn't the best effort by an Indian bowler in U-19 internationals as former pacer Irfan Pathan had astounding figures of 9/16 against Bangladesh in the Junior Asia Cup in Lahore, back in 2004. The top scorer for Nepal was Hemant Dhami (8), whose two boundaries got the team past 50-run mark.