By a Staff Reporter
Kathmandu – Nepal lifts historic bilateral ODI series title defeating UAE by 6 wicktes in the third ODI on Friday at TU Cricket Ground.
Nepal, who went down in its first outing of the ODI, marked a successful comeback recording a win in the second and third.
UAE Inning
Opening to bat, UAE collected 176 in the prescribed 50 overs with a wicket in spare. Following a mediocre beginning to the inning, UAE was in a pathetic situation till 31.1 overs with a score of 93/9.
The number 8 batsman Aayan Afzal Khan (54*) and the number 11 batsman Hazrat Bilal (20*), then shared a limelight partnership of 83 runs to give an average target of 177 runs to the hosts. The duo pulled the innings to the whole 50 overs.
The 17-years old Aayan, with 7 fours and a six off 63 deliveries, played a half-century remaining unbeaten. Opener Muhammad Waseem failed to collect more than 11 runs, and Nepal’s pacer Sompal Kami bowled Vriitya Aravind to send him back to the pavilion with a duck out.
Captain CP Rizwan (4), Rohan Mustaffa (24), Alishan Saferu (33), Basil Hameed (8), and Vishnu Sukumaran added 2 runs to the tally. Ahmed Raza and Zahoor Khan returned to the dugout following a duck out.
Nepali bowlers Gulshan Jha, Dipendra Singh Airee, and leggie Kushal Bhurtel claimed two wickets whereas Sompal Kami and Lalit Rajbanshi took one wicket each.
Nepal Inning
A 122 runs partnership between Gyanendra Malla and Asif Seikh including a half-century inning from both helped Nepal win the title of the bilateral ODI series for the first time at home.
It took Nepal 40.1 overs to chase the winning target of 177 runs. Asif Sheikh hit 4 off Rohan Mustafa’s delivery to snatch the match.
Nepal’s opener Arjun Saud, once again with inconsistent performance got dismissed for 9 runs off 33 deliveries in 9.6 overs. Gyanendra then stepped in to share a 122 runs partnership with Asif.
Gyanendra contributed 64 runs off 73 deliveries with 7 fours and 3 sixes before getting lbw out by Aayan Afzal Khan.
Captain Rohit Paudel, with another poor performance, got run out by Vriitya Aarvind for 10 runs. Dipendra Singh Aire returned to the dugout, marking himself as the first Nepali player to get the Diamond Duck out.
The Player of the match, Asif Sheikh, who opened the innings, remained unbeaten contributing 88 runs off 119 deliveries with 12 fours despite an unhealthy start. Harishankar Shah remained not out for 0.
Hazrat Bilal and the player of the series Aayan Afzal Khan of UAE took a wicket each. With a victory, Rohit Paudel marks himself as one of the youngest-ever captains (20 years, 77 days) to win the bilateral ODI series.
