Dipendra Singh Airee’s heroism helps Nepal bag a consecutive win in ACC Premier Cup
The Nepalese national cricket team are off to a flying start in the ACC Premier Cup. They have registered a back-to-back win in the tournament with a 32-run victory over Qatar on Saturday. Dipendra Singh Airee was the star of the match with him smacking a record six sixes in an over.
Opting to bat first at Al Amerat, Nepal posted a big total of 210/7 in the allotted 20 overs. Nepal had an average start, losing Kushal Bhurtel for 12 runs before Aasif Sheikh and Rohit Paudel shared 49 runs from the second wicket. Rohit departed for 18 but Aasif anchored the inning with 53 runs partnership along with Kushal Malla who smacked 18-ball 35.
Aasif scored 52 runs from 41 balls. Sundeep Jora (7), Gulshan Jha (5) and Bibek Yadav (5) all departed cheaply. It was Dipendra Singh Airee who changed the game for Nepal. He was into the record books with six sixes in the over. He hammered 36 runs in the last over bowled by Kamran Khan and remained unbeaten for 64* (from 21 balls).
For Qatar, Himanshu Rathod and Musawar Shah picked up three wickets each.
In reply, Qatar managed to score 178/9 in the 20 overs. Skipper Muhammad Tanveer was the top scorer with 63 runs from 33 balls. Mohammad Ahnaff and Himansu Rathod scored 23 and 22 runs respectively.
For Nepal, Lalit Rajbanshi (4-0-23-2), Dipendra Singh Airee (4-0-34-2) and Gulshan Jha (2-0-24-2) shined with the ball grabbing two wickets each. Kushal Malla and Abinash Bohara also took one wicket each.
Dipendra Singh Airee was the player of the match for his brilliant all-round performance. He received the POTM award in the previous match as well where Nepal got better off Malaysia by five wickets on Friday. Nepal will face Hong Kong on April 15 in a vital match.
