Nepal beat Kenya, take 2-1 lead

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Aug 29 : Nepal registered a four-wicket victory over Kenya to take a 2-1 lead in the T20I Series at Gymkhana Club Ground, Nairobi on Sunday.

Nepal lost six wickets to achieve its highest T20I run chase of 157-run with three balls to spare.  Nepal defeated Kenya by five wickets in the first match and lost its second by 18 runs. 

Debutant Arjun Saud gave a good start for Nepal after partnering with Pawan Sarraf for a 35-run. Sarraf returned to the dugout after slamming 12-ball 20 with one six and three fences.

Saud then paired with former Captain Gyanendra Malla to catapult Nepal to 77/2 for the second wicket. Saud hammered three sixes and two boundaries in his cameo of 31-ball 35. He was bowled out by Vraj Patel.

Dipendra Singh Airee (5-ball 6) followed Saud to the pavilion in the last ball of the 11th over as he holed out to Ochieng off Patel.

Malla took control of the inning as he partnered with Rohit Paudel for 54 runs. Paul left after adding 18-ball 29 in the 17.1 over with 137/4 on the scoreboard.

Player of the match Malla was four runs short of achieving a half-century as he also returned to the dugout in 18.2 over with nine runs required to victory. He smashed four fences and one six off 41 balls he faced.

Mohammad Aadil Alam chipped in with a brisk 18-ball 29 before being caught by Patel off Ringera. With three runs required to win from four balls, Aarif Sheikh hit the boundary to kill the match for Nepal.

Eugene Ochieng and Vraj Patel grabbed two wickets apiece while Emmanuel Bundi took one wicket for the host team.

Earlier, an unbeaten century partnership from Rakib Patel and Irfan Karim helped Kenya post 156 runs losing two wickets in 20 overs.

Middle order batters Patel and Karim stole the show after Kenya lost opener duo Sukhdeep Singh (12-ball 8) and Collins Obuya (18-ball 14) as the host chose to bat first.

Patel and Karim put up a 127 runs partnership for the third wicket before giving Nepal a daunting task.

Patel slammed four maximums and five boundaries in his quick-fire half-century knock of 43-ball 73. Karim also chipped in with a half-century knock of 47-ball 55. He clubbed two balls for six and four balls for boundaries.

Sompal Kami and Mohammad Aadil Alam Ansari picked one wicket apiece for Nepal. Kami finished with a figure of 1-16. Ansari conceded just four runs to pick one wicket.

Captain Sandeep Lamichhane was the expensive bowler for Nepal as he gave away 42 runs in his spell of four overs. Dipendra Singh Airee also gave away 31 runs in three overs.