Thursday, November 14

Nepal goes down to UAE in first ODI

By a Staff Reporter

Kathamndu – Nepal went down to UAE by 84 runs in their first outing of the Bilateral ODI series at TU Cricket Ground.

UAE Inning

Opening with bat, visitors UAE scored 263/7 in the prescribed 50 overs. Muhammad Waseem and Vriitya Aravind, who opened the innings missed the half-century with a small number as they returned to the pavilion for 44 and 40 runs respectively.

The UAE Skipper Chundangapoyil Rizwan, who stepped in as the number 3 batsman had an inning to forget as Kushal Bhurtel caught his shot off Gulsan Jha’s delivery when he was just at 2 runs.

Rohan Mustafa, the renowned name in Nepali domestic cricket then came into the crease to score a half-century. Mustafa contributed 53 runs to the UAE total with 7 fours before Aasif Sheikh caught his shot off Sompal Kami’s delivery at 37.6 overs.

Alishan Sharafu (29), Basil Hameed (14), and Aayan Afzal Khan (26) left the crease following the run-out. Ahmed Raza (27) and Junaid Siddique (1) remained unbeaten. Nepal’s bowler Gulsan Jha took 2 wickets whereas Sompal Kami and Dipendra Singh Airee claimed 1 each.

Nepal Inning

Defending the winning target of 264, UAE limited Nepal to 179/9 in the scheduled 50 overs. A two-half-century innings from debutant Arjun Saud and Dipendra Singh Airee could not help Nepal with the match at home.

Arjun, who looked promising since the start collected 51 runs off 79 deliveries with 5 fours before getting bowled by Rohan Mustafa in 30.1 overs. Aayan Afzal Khan’s delivery in the 6.1 overs hit Aasif Sheikh’s leg before wicket which forced him back to the dugout with 19 runs in the pocket off 19 balls.

The utmost experienced player of the team Gyanendra Malla then stepped into the crease to disappoint the home crowd by getting duck out. The newly appointed Captain Rohit Paudel also failed to meet the expectations as he returned to the pavilion with 1 run off 5 balls.

Harishankar Shah managed to score 8 runs in his debut on the national team. Dipendra Singh Airee collected the highest runs of 54 off 84 deliveries with 6 fours for Nepal. Kushal Bhurtel (6), Sompal Kami (3), and Karan KC added 3 runs to the tally. Gulsan Jha and Lalit Rajbanshi remained not out for 19 and 6 runs.

Player of the match 17-year-old Aayan Afzal Khan claimed 4 wickets. Basil Hameed booked two in his name whereas Zahoor Khan, Rohan Mustafa, and Ahmed Raza took 1 wicket each.

The second match of the Nepal UAE bilateral series will take place on 16 November and the final outing will be held on 18 November.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

P