KATHMANDU: Nepal ‘Red’ edged the ‘Blue’ team by two runs to clean sweep their three-match Twenty20 Practice Match Series here at the Tribhuvan University Stadium today.
Electing to bat first, the Red team — led by the skipper of the Nepali national team Paras Khadka — made a defendable 140-6 in their allotted 20 overs. Basanta Regmi’s patient 49-ball 41 helped the Red team pile up a challenging total, while skipper Paras able supported the former smashing a 33-ball 31. Basanta’s innings included six hits to the fence and Paras struck five fours and a six.
Former skipper Binod Das contributed an unbeaten 18 off 11 deliveries that included a six. Faizlur Rehman (13) and Puspa Thapa (11) were the other Red batsmen to score in double digits. Krishna Karki (2-16), Sharad Vesawkar (2-18) shared four wickets between them, while Avinash Karn and Sunam Gautam grabbed one wicket apiece.
In reply, the Blue team — led by the national team vice-captain Gyanendra Malla — could only muster 138-6 in a nervy finish. Binod Bhandari hit an unbeaten 41 off 40 balls and Sharad made a quickfire 37 off 34 deliveries but couldn’t guide their team home. Binod hit three boundaries and six, while Sharad’s cameo included three boundaries.
Naresh Budhayer (24) and skipper Gyanendra (13) were the other notable contributor’s for the losing side. Binod Das, Amrit Bhattarai, Rahul BK and Paras claimed one wicket apiece for the victors.
