Kathmandu- Nepal lost to Oman by three wickets in the final practice match despite showing hard fight to defend a low score in a match played at Abu Dhabi Obval One Ground, Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Nepal took the match as far as the second last over and took seven wickets, despite defending just 185 runs as Shakti and Co. put on a good spirit with the ball. At one stage, Oman were 2/92 in the 19th over and should have chased the target much earlier. But the wicket of Zeshaan Maqsood, who hit run a ball 52, changed things and Oman’s run rate slowed down. Mehabob Alam took his wicket.
Later, Shakti Gauchan produced two quick wickets leaving Oman 7 for 155 in 42.5 overs, needing 30 runs to win with three wickets remaining. Ajay Lalcheta and Mohammad Nadeem then, calmly led Oman to three wickets win. Sagar Pun and Basant Regmi aided Shakti Gauchan well with a wickets each while, Shakti took three wickets conceding just 19 runs in 10 overs.
Earlier, Nepal were restricted to 184 for 10 in 49.3 overs after Bilal Khan and Khawar Ali shared seven wickets between them. Gyanendra Malla led Nepal’s way with a fluent 71 runs off 113 balls and Paras Khadka contributed 49 runs off 75 balls. Both players hit seven four in their innings. The duo shared 90 runs for the third wicket.
Nepal plays Papua New Guinea next on 16th and 18th November in the second round of ICC WCL Championship.
