After securing consecutive victories, the Nepalese national cricket team has advanced to the final of the T20I tri-nation series. Nepal achieved a comfortable six-wicket win against the Netherlands on Saturday at the crowded TU Cricket Ground. The outcome of the Netherlands-Namibia battle on Sunday will decide the other finalist.
Opting to bat first in the overcast condition backfired the Dutch team as they were bowed out for 120 in 19.3 overs. Karan KC had the enthusiastic crowd on their feet by taking two wickets in the opening over. Following a 50-run partnership between Max O’Dowd and Scott Edwards, Pratish GC dismissed both batters in the ninth over. In the subsequent over, Kushal Malla secured two wickets, leaving the Netherlands at 60/6 by the end of the 10th over.
Timm van der Gugten and Roelof van der Merwe scored 24 and 23* to help the Dutch side post a triple-digit score. Max O’Dowd top scored with 31 runs whilst Scott Edwards made 18 runs.
For Nepal, Pratish GC was a pick of a bowler. He finished with a figure of 4-1-13-3 and recorded his career-best figure for Nepal. The left-arm pacer was also adjudged a POTM. Kushal Malla and Karan KC also grabbed two wickets each whereas DS Airee grabbed one.
In response, Nepal chased the target in 15.2 overs losing four wickets. Nepal also lost both openers Kushal Bhurtel (12) and Aasif Sheikh (8) in the same over and were 27/2 after the third over. Rohit Paudel and Gulshan Jha then shared an 86-run stand to ensure Nepal’s win. Paudel scored 34-ball 46 whilst Jha scored 38 runs from 36 balls. Kushal Malla (2*) scored the winning run for Nepal with DS Airee (4*) on the other end.
For the Netherlands, Vivian Kingma picked up three wickets. Aryan Dutt also grabbed one.
