Nepal beat USA by six wickets

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, June 21: Nepal defeated the USA by six wickets to claim its first win at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 in Harare, Zimbabwe on Tuesday.

Nepal successfully chased the victory target of 208 runs in the 43 overs losing four wickets.  A patient half-century knock from Bhim Sharki cruised Nepal home. Sharki smacked seven boundaries and one six in his not-out 114-ball 77 knocks. 

Dipendra Singh Airee also remained not out with 39 runs off 32 balls that included five fences and one six. Airee hit a boundary in the last ball of the 43rd over to kill the match after Nepal tied the score in the 42.3 over.  Sharki and Airee put on the 74-run unbeaten partnership for the fifth wicket. 

Opener Kushal Bhurtel contributed 39 runs off 54 balls that included four fences and one six. Opener Aasif Sheikh (12), Captain Rohit Paudel (16) and Kushal Malla (13) chipped in with double figures for Nepal. 

Saurabh Netravalkar, Nosthush Kenjige, Nisarg Patel and Steven Taylor picked one wicket apiece for the USA. 

The win put Nepal in third place in the Group A table with two points.  

Zimbabwe defeated the Netherlands by six wickets to claim the top spot in Group A with four points. Zimbabwe easily chased the 316-run victory target posted by the Dutch in 40.5 overs losing four wickets. The Netherlands smashed 315 runs losing six wickets in 50 overs. 

West Indies sit in second place with two points and a better run rate than Nepal. The USA and the Netherlands trail at fourth and fifth position.

Pacer Karan KC spearheaded Nepal’s bowling attack as the USA, after being put on to bat first, struggled to post medium 207 runs losing all the wickets in 49 overs.

KC was the major tormentor of US batting with a four-wicket haul. He conceded 33 runs and bowled three maiden overs in his spell of nine overs. 

Right-arm fast bowler claimed all four wickets within 10 overs as the USA tottered to 18/4.  Middle-order Shayan Jahangir cracked his maiden ODI century to cruise control the USA. Jahangir remained not out on the crease with his 79-ball 100 blitz. His batting yielded 10 boundaries and three sixes.

Opener Sushant Modani was another top contributor to the USA. Modani saw his mates fall victim to Player of the match KC on the other end as he managed to score 42 runs off 71 balls before being bowled out by Lalit Rajbanshi as the sixth wicket in the 28th over. 

Modani put on a 47-run stand with Gajanand Singh for the fifth wicket. Singh holed out collecting 26 off 41 balls in the 22nd over. Jessy Singh (12) was another double-digit scorer as the rest of the USA batters returned to the pavilion for a cheap score. 

Medium pacer Gulsan Jha grabbed three wickets conceding 52 runs and Dipendra Singh Airee finished with a figure of 2-15 in the damage of the USA batting.  

Spinner Rajbanshi, who replaced regular bowler, Sompal Kami, picked one wicket for Nepal. Pacer Kami was absent due to an injury. 

Nepal lost its first match against Host Zimbabwe by eight wickets on Sunday. Nepal’s third outing will be against Test nation West Indies on Thursday.