Nepal has bagged a win against UAE A in the final group stage match of the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup. Team Nepal were victorious by three wickets, chasing a modest target of 158.
Nepal reached the target in 23 overs, finishing the match with 162 balls spares. Kushal Bhurtel – the star of the first inning, grabbing six wickets, yielded an electrifying start after losing Arjun Saud for a golden duck in the very first ball of the inning.
Bhurtel hammered 71 runs from 43 balls, smacking nine fours and four sixes. Dev Khanal made a composed 24 runs and shared 98 runs stand with Bhurtel for the second wicket. Sundeep Jora played an entertaining knock of 15-ball 24.
Nepal fumbled and lost Rohit Paudel (9), Gulshan Jha (11) and Pawan Sarraf (0); however, Pratish GC bagged a win for Nepal hammering two consecutive boundaries. They were defeated by Pakistan A and India A in the previous matches.
For UAE, Mohammed Faraazuddin picked up a five-wicket haul. He gave away 36 runs from six overs. Muhammad Jawadullah grabbed two scalps.
Click here to see the scorecard.
Earlier, Nepal wrapped up UAE for a mere total after being forced to bowl first. Kushal Bhurtel was the star for Nepal with a maiden List A five-wicket haul as they shrunk UAE to 157 in 44 overs.
UAE had an average start and were 52/1 at one stage, but they lost a wicket continuously and were restricted to a small total. They lost nine wickets for 105 runs.
Kushal Malla and Pawan Sarraf picked the first and second wickets, respectively. Kushal Bhurtel then surprisingly dismissed six consecutive batters. Shyam Dhakal sent back the last two batters to wrap things up.
Photo by: Pankaj Nangia / Creimas / Asian Cricket Council
Opener Lovepreet Singh top-scored for UAE with 52 runs. Ethan Dsouza and Ashwant Valthapa contributed 18 and 16 runs, respectively.
Kushal Bhurtel, who grabbed the maiden List A fifer, was the pick of a bowler for Nepal. He bowled a full ten-over spell and conceded 40 runs, grabbing six wickets. Shyam Dhakal playing a debut List A match, pocketed two wickets (9-0-44-2). Pawan Sarraf (10-3-19-1) and Kushal Malla grabbed one scalp each.
Nepal made four changes for the match, playing Arjun Saud, Sundeep Jora, Pratish GC and Shyam Dhakal (Mousam) in place of Aasif Sheikh, Bhim Sharki, Sompal Kami and Lalit Rajbanshi.
