Nepal has been restricted to 172 runs against the Netherlands in the last match of the first Tri-Series under CWC League 2 2023-2027. Put into the bat first after losing the toss, Nepal struggled and were bowled out in 49.3 overs.
Openers Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh yielded a good start adding 42 runs for the first wicket. However, Nepal were 54/3 in no time. Aasif was dismissed for 17 before Anil Sah (7) and Kushal Malla (2) joined him in the dugout. Rohit Paudel was dismissed for a sluggish 40-ball 16. Dipendra Singh Airee (1) and Bhim Sharki (0) were dismissed cheaply as Nepal was in a pitiful situation of 94/6.
Kushal Bhurtel batted sensibly and scored his eighth ODI half-century. Eventually, he was dismissed for 66 runs from 93 balls with the help of eight boundaries. This is his slowest half-century in ODI so far. Aarif Sheikh contributed 22 runs. Karan KC at the end, smacked two sixes and scored 26 runs before falling as a last scalp in the last over.
Nepal struggled against the Dutch spinners. They could score only 39 runs from 20 overs bowled by Van der Merwe and Aryan Dutt. Dutt was exceptional, picking up three wickets (10-2-16-3) whilst Merwe also grabbed one (10-1-23-1). Vivian Kingma pocketed three whereas Bas de Leede also picked up two.
