The Nepalese team emerged victorious in the first T20 match against Ireland Wolves at TU Cricket Ground. The home side grabbed a six-wicket win, following a tiny total of 122 on Monday.
Aasif Sheikh yielded a good start for Nepal scoring 16 runs. However, after his dismissal on the fourth over, Rohit Paudel (0) and Gulshan Jha (4) also followed him as Nepal were down to 37/3 from 32/0. Kushal Bhurtel and Sundeep Jora then shared a match-winning 54-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Jora who was dropped at 2, went on to score 36 vital runs. Kushal Bhurtel played a sluggish knock and made an unbeaten 37 runs. Dipendra Airee finished the match with a boundary and remained unbeaten for 12-ball 20.
For the Wolves, Gareth Delany took two wickets. Thomas Mayes and Ben White also grabbed one wicket each.
Earlier in the first innings, Nepal wrapped up Ireland Wolves for a tiny total of 121 in 20 overs. Opting to bat first backfired the Irish side following a brilliant bowling display from the Nepalese bowlers.
Nepal had a superb start as Karan KC took a wicket in the second ball dismissing Ross Adair. The Irish batters were unable to build any partnership as wickets kept falling continuously. Stephen Doheny played the anchor role and scored the highest runs. He scored 46 runs from 39 balls before being dismissed by Kushal Bhurtel in the 14th over.
Tailenders Liam McCarthy and Thomas Mayes were the second-highest run scorers with 16 runs each. Fionn Hand contributed 11 runs whereas the other batters were unable to cross double-digit score.
For Nepal, Three bowlers picked up two wickets each. Kushal Bhurtel (3-0-17-2), Lalit Rajbanshi (4-0-26-2) and Gulshan Jha (2-0-13-2) did a superb job. Kushal Malla and Karan KC also grabbed a wicket each whereas the other two wickets came in the form of run out.
