Nepal’s hope to play ODI Cricket World Cup dashed

By Anjan Khadka,Kathmandu, June 25: The Netherlands dashed Nepal’s hope to play the ODI Cricket World Cup on Saturday.

 Nepal lost the do or die game by seven wickets. After losing the game to the Netherlands at ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers held in Harare, Zimbabwe, Nepal has been crashed out from the group stage. 

Netherlands has secured their spot in the super six of the qualifiers. Earlier, West Indies and host Zimbabwe reached the super six as the winner and first runner-up respectively. 

The top three teams from each group will advance into the Super Six and the top two teams from the qualifiers will secure their spot at the ICC Cricket World Cup to be held in India next year.

The Netherlands comfortably chased the target of 168 runs posted by Nepal in 27.1 overs with the loss of three wickets in the allocated 50-over match.

Opener Max O’Dowd scored the highest 90 runs for the winning side. He scored 90 runs off 75 balls that included eight boundaries and four sixes while middle-order Bas de Leede scored unbeaten 41 runs off 39 balls that included six boundaries and opener Vikramjit Singh contributed 30 runs off 43 balls which included three boundaries and a single six.

Opener duo O’Dowd and Singh made a partnership of 86 runs for the first wicket taking the Netherlands to a comfort zone. Opener O’Dowd was declared Player of the Match for his remarkable batting against Nepal in the do or die match. Sandeep Lamichhane grabbed two wickets while Gulsan Jha took one wicket for Nepal.

Invited to bat first, the Netherlands dominated in the bowling as Nepal struggled to score 167 runs with the loss of all the wickets in 44.3 overs.

Logan van Beek alone claimed four wickets while Bas de Leede and Vikramjit Singh grabbed two wickets each for the winning side. Similarly, Clayton Floyd and Aryan Dutt took one wicket each.

Captain Rohit Paudel scored the highest 33 runs for Nepal. He scored 33 runs off 55 balls that included three boundaries and a single six while opener Kushal Bhurtel and bowler Sandeep Lamichhane hit 27 runs each. Bhurtel scored 27 runs off 42 balls which included two boundaries and Lamichhane hit 27 runs off 33 balls that featured four boundaries.

Similarly, Bhim Sharki collected 22 runs off 56 balls that included a single boundary while Gulshan Jha scored 15 runs and Dipendra Singh Airee scored 14 runs for Nepal.

Earlier, Nepal made a poor start in the qualifiers as they suffered an eight wickets defeat at the hands of host Zimbabwe in the opener while they made a comeback in the second match as they registered a six wickets victory over the United States of America (USA) and they faced 101 runs defeat at the hands of two-time World Cup winner West Indies in their third match.