By a Staff Reporter
Kathmandu – Nepal retained their ODI (One Day International) status for the next four years with a convincing victory of 117 runs over UAE at TU Cricket Ground.
UAE’s Inning
UAE, chasing a winning target of 248 runs, were bowled out for a mere 71 runs in 22.5 overs, which is their lowest total in ODI history.
Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi picked up 5 wicket haul, Sandeep Lamichhane claimed 2, while Sompal Kami, Dipendra Singh Airee, and Gulsan Jha each chipped in one wicket to dismiss UAE cheaply.
Lalit sent off UAE’s opening batsman Vriitya Aravind and lower-order batsman Zahoor Khan for a duck each. In contrast, he dismissed Muhammad Waseem, Aayan Afzal Khan, and Junaid Siddique, for 1, 29, and 1 run, respectively.
Aayan scored the highest for the losing side with 29 runs off 33 deliveries, including 2 fours and 2 sixes. Ashwanth Valthapa scored 14 runs, and Karthik Meiyappan scored 11 runs, making them the other batters to score in double figures.
Asif Khan, Rohan Mustafa, and Zawar Farid also made contributions to the team’s total, scoring 6, 6, and 2 runs respectively, while Aryan Lakra departed without scoring any runs.
Nepal’s Inning
Earlier, Nepal who won the toss and elected to bat first had a rocky start to their inning, losing three early wickets, but Skipper Rohit Paudel’s half-century inning brought momentum back to the Nepalese team.
Nepal lost opener Aasif Sheikh for a duck out, Kushal Bhurtel for 8, and Kushal Malla for 9. Rohit, who stepped in the crease as the number four batsman contributed the highest of 77 runs off 112 deliveries with 9 fours before getting caught by Karthik Meiyappan off Aayan Afzal Khan’s delivery in 37.3 overs.
The middle-order batsmen fulfilled their responsibility admirably, with Bhim Sharki scoring 29 runs, Aarif Sheikh contributing 43 runs, Gulsan Jha adding 37 runs, and Dipendra Singh Airee making a contribution of 34 runs to the team’s total.
Moreover, Sandeep Lamichhane and Sompal Kami contributed 2 runs each off 4 deliveries while Lalit Rajbanshi remained not out for 0.
Aayan Afzal Khan, Zahoor Khan, Rohan Mustafa, and Zawar Farid each claimed 2 wickets for UAE. In addition, Aryan Lakra and Junaid Siddique picked up one wicket each.
The loss for UAE means they will no longer be an ODI nation, while Nepal’s win moves them up to fourth on the points table, securing their ODI status for the next four years.
Nepal’s next match is against PNG on Monday. Nepal will conclude its ICC CWC League 2 campaign with a match against UAE on Thursday.
