By a Staff Reporter
With the top notch performance from opener Asif Sheikh, Nepal has achieved a historic victory over Scotland. Visitors Nepal created history by defeating the home side Scotland by 5 wickets in the ICC World Cup League-2 tri series ODI.
Nepal creates a history in its cricketing career as it defeats strong side Scotland for the first time. Earlier, Nepal lost both in ODI and T20 through the hands of Scotland. While chasing the winning target of 145 runs for the victory, Nepal lost 5 wickets in 25.1 overs.
With this victory, Nepal steps up to the fifth in the tournament league table. Young opener Asif Sheikh hits 71 runs including 10 fours and a sixer. With a sixer in the 48th ball that he faced, he completed the fourth half-century of his ODI career.
Vice Captain Rohit Paudel remained unbeaten on 34 runs off 31 balls with 5 fours. Rohit concluded the match with a boundary off Hamza Tahir ball. Meanwhile, Dipendra Singh Airy was out for 3 runs and Arif Shaikh was out for 1 run.
Asif and Kushal Bhurtel made a good start to the inning by sharing 47 runs in 7.2 overs before the first wicket went down. Kushal was dismissed for 27 runs off 28 balls with four boundaries. Wicketkeeper Matthew Cross caught the ball that stroke Bhurtel’s bat off Gavin Main’s bowling which sent Bhurtel off the crease.
Dev Khanal was caught out for 4 runs in the third ball of the 14th over. Gavin Main, who scored a half-century for Scotland, took the uttermost three wickets for the hosts.
Scotland who batted first after losing the toss at Titwood Cricket Ground in Glasgow were all out for 144 runs in 42.5 overs. Hamza Tahir and Gavin Main shared a 49 runs partnership.
Gavin remained unbeaten on 64 runs off 59 balls that included seven fours and a six. This is his first half century. Tahir remained unbeaten on 7 runs off 43 balls. Mark Watt and Safyaan Sharif were out collecting 17 and 16 runs respectively. Opener Matthew Cross was caught by wicketkeeper Asif off Sompal Kami for 2 runs.
Karan KC sent off Calum MacLeod for 13 runs in the last ball of the seventh over. He struck two fours in 21 balls nad later was caught out by Arif Sheikh. Soon after, in the first ball of the next over, opener Kyle Cotzer was caught by Kushal Bhurtel for 6 runs off Sompal’s ball.
George Munsey’s shot was caught by Kushal Bhurtel off Adil Ansari’s ball. In Sompal’s fifth ball of the 12th over, captain Richie Berrington was caught out by Asif for 3 runs, and Scotland reached a situation of 33-5.
Likewise, Adil Ansari dismissed Michael Leask for 4 and Safyaan Sharif for 16 runs. Nepal’s Sompal Kami took 3 wickets by giving away 40 runs in 10 overs.
Adil Ansari took 3 wickets giving away 31 runs in 10 overs with 1 maiden. Skipper Sandeep Lamichhane took 2 wickets giving away 35 runs in 10 overs with 1 maiden. Dipendra Singh Airi and Karan KC took one wicket each.
Nepal lost its first match against Namibia by 40 runs. Nepal will play its next match against Namibia on Saturday and Scotland on Sunday. With this win, Nepal has climbed to fifth place with 17 points.
Nepali Team:
Sandip Lamichhane (Captain), Rohit Paudel (Vice-Captain), Asif Sheikh (Wicket Keeper), Kushal Bhurtel, Dev Khanal, Dipendra Singh Aire, Aarif Sheikh, Karan KC, Sompal Kami, Adil Ansari, Basir Ahamed, Kishore Mahato, Pawan Sharaf and Binod Bhandari (Wicket Keeper).
Nepal’s fixture for Scotland Tour:
July 16 – Nepal VS Namibia
July 17 – Nepal VS Scotland
