UAE beat Nepal by 68 runs

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Mar. 3: The United Arab Emirates put Nepal’s five-match winning streak to an end following their 68-run victory at the Trilateral series under ICC Men’s World Cricket League-2 in Dubai on Thursday. 

Nepal was on the receiving end while chasing a medium target of 208-run forwarded by the hosts after being put on to bat first.

Rohan Mustafa and Karthik Meiyappan each picked three wickets to destroy Nepal’s middle and lower order. Mustafa finished with a figure of 3-45 and Meiyappan ended with 3-26. 

After the loss, Nepal’s Captain Rohit Paudel said Nepali bowlers did a good job by restricting the hosts to a medium score. “But when it came to the batting, we failed to emulate the bowling success today.  Kushal Malla did well with his bat. Sandeep Lamichhane also provided a decent job in both bowl and bat today.”

Kushal Malla came up with his valiant batting after Nepal tottered to 17/3. Nepal lost Kushal Bhurtel (5) as the first wicket. Gyanendra Malla and Captain Rohit Paudel followed Bhurtel to the pavilion after becoming the victim of Junaid Siddique for nought. 

Opener Aasif Sheikh (16-ball 17) put some resistance to the UAE bowlers after the arrival of Malla. Sheikh, however, holed out to Mustafa in the ball off Zahoor Khan in the 8.5 over. 

Malla was the lone fighter of the burning ship as he could not get support from his mates. He smashed nine boundaries and one maximum in his half-century knock of 53-ball 60. 

Meiyappan made Malla hole out to Mustafa in the 18.1 over reeling Nepal to 93/6. 

Sandeep Lamichhane from the tail put some resistance with not out 24-ball 26. Aarif Sheikh (0), Dipendra Singh Airee (7), Gulshan Jha (4), Sompal Kami (4) and Karan KC (5) could not come up with their batting magic today.  

Earlier, Opener Asif Khan clubbed five fences and three sixes to top score with a 99-ball 72 for the UAE. Mustafa chipped in with a half-century knock of 76-ball 52. He was adjudged Player of the match for contributing with both ball and bat. 

Vritya Aravind (18), Chundangapoyil Rizwan (22) and Aryan Lakra (28) were other significant contributors to the UAE’s batting. 

Legspinner Lamichhane, who replaced spinner Shyam (Mousam) Dhakal to join the national team in Dubai, was the pick of the bowler for Nepal with a three-wicket haul. 

Karan KC, Aarif Sheikh and Kushal Malla also bagged one wicket apiece. 

The victory gave the fifth-placed UAE 31 points from 30 matches. Nepal trail behind the UAE in sixth place with 28 points from 30 matches. With six games in hand, both teams are eying to grab third place at the League-2 for the automatic qualification to the World Cup Qualifiers.