A match winning knock of 91 runs off 106 balls from skipper Paras khadka helped Nepal defeat Sri Lanka Port Authority Cricket Club by two wickets in the third practice match in Sri Lanka today.
In an interesting match,Nepal chased the target of 201 runs given by SLPACC in the last over with two wickets remaining. Earlier, four wickets from Sagar Pun had restricted SLPACC to 201 runs in the 47th over losing all their wickets.
Nepal, chasing the target for a third successive time got to a horrible start as they lost Anil Mandal,Subash khakurel and Gyanendra Mall for just 20 runs on the board. Anil scored 2 runs while Gyanendra was out for a duck and Subash managed 10 runs from 22 balls.
Paras and Sharad then anchored the innings with a 128 runs partnership checking the run rate. Paras was slow at first,scoring his fifty in 74 balls. He added another 41 runs in just 32 balls. Paras blasted four fours and seven sixes in his inning of 91runs facing 106 deliveries. Nepal were heading towards a easy win with 148 runs in the 33rd over until Paras was on the crease. Once he got out,Nepal were soon back foot at 150/6 losing Binod and Sharad in quick succession. Binod couldn’t carry the momentum of the last match where he score a quickfire 52 runs as he was out for a duck this time. Meanwhile, sharad scored 34 runs off 69 balls.
At the last part of the inning,Pradeep Airee and Prithu Baskota added 37 runs before the later was stumped for 13 runs in search of quick runs. With just two runs needed for the win, Chalanka had Pradeep caught by Sachitra 46th over. But it was too late for the host as Basanta finshed the inning with a four in the last ball of 49th over. Anuk De Alwis and Chanaka Komasaru finished with a figure of 10-3-26-3 and 10-2-52-3 respectively for the host.
Batting first, Port Authority could only manage 201 runs before being all out in the 47th over. Many batsman got start but couldn’t score big for SLPACC. Gayashan weerasekara 34(63) was the highest scorer whereas Gayan Maneeshan and Mahela Udawatte scored 28(35) and 27(24) respectively. Off Spinner Sagar Pun destroyed their middle order with 4 wickets. Avinash Karn and part timer Prithu grabbed two wickets each.
Nepal will play their last match against Bloomfield Cricket Club on Thursday before leaving for New Zealand.
