The Nepalese Cricket Team has booked a back-to-back win in the Asian Games Cricket to secure a place in the quarter-final. Nepal who thrashed Mongolia by a record 273-run win on 27th September thumped the Maldives by 138 runs.
Nepal’s opponent in the quarterfinal is yet to be confirmed. Powerhouses India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan have already booked a spot in the quarterfinal.
Chasing a mammoth target of 213 runs, Maldives were never in the game in front of a rigid Nepalese bowling lineup. Sompal Kami started with a wicket in the first over.
Abinash Bohara took three wickets in the single over to dismantle Maldives’ inning. His toe-crushing yorkers saw Maldives lose four wickets for 16 runs after the end of the powerplay.
Muawiyath Ghanee kept the score ticking and scored a decent 36 runs with two fours and two sixes. Apart from that Rashid Rassam (12*) and Fareed Shius (10) were the only batters with double-digit scores. Six batters were dismissed for a duck. Eventually, Maldives were bowled out for 74 in 19.4 overs.
For Nepal, Abinash Bohara was the pick of a bowler. He took three wickets each in the last over of the powerplay and the last over of the match to become the first Nepalese bowler to grab a Six-wicket haul in T20I. His bowling figure of 3.4-0-11-6 now stands as the best bowling figure by Nepalese bowlers. Sompal Kami, Gulshan Jha, Sandeep Lamichhane and Kushal Bhurtel pocketed one wicket each.
Earlier, Nepal posted 212/7 runs at the end of 20 overs after a half-century from Rohit Paudel and a late blitz from Kushal Malla. Choosing to bat first at Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket, Nepal lost Aasif Sheikh for a cheap score (6 from 8 balls).
Kushal Bhurtel was the next man to be dismissed right after the end of the powerplay. He notched up an 18-ball 35. Binod Bhandari who replaced Karan KC in the XI and Sundeep Jora couldn’t do any special as they were dismissed for 13 (15 balls) and five (nine balls) respectively.
Gulshan Jha and Rohit Paudel then added 70 runs for the fifth wicket before Jha was dismissed for 21-ball 35. After that, Rohit Paudel played the captain’s knock and completed a back-to-back half-century (his third in T20I). Paudel completed fifty in 26 balls, smacking two consecutive sixes. He was run out next ball.
Meanwhile, Kushal Malla played an explosive 47 runs from 20 balls to help Nepal cross the 200-run mark. Nepal managed 122 runs from the last 8 overs.
For the Maldives, Nazwan Ismail was the pick of a bowler. He picked up three wickets conceding just 17 runs.
