Nepal struggle past UAE by three wickets

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, July 3: All-rounder Dipendra Singh Airee shone with his bat as Nepal defeated the UAE by three wickets to book the berth in the 7th place play-off match in the ICC Men's World Cup Qualifiers 2023 in Zimbabwe on Sunday. 

Nepal will take on Ireland to fix the seventh position team of the qualifiers on Tuesday. Chasing the 182-run victory target for the win, Nepal chased the target successfully losing seven wickets in 43.2 overs. 

Airee clubbed not-out 79 runs off 85 balls to help Nepal recover from its shaky batting and lead to victory over the UAE in Harare. 

Nepal once was staring to defeat with 106/7 on the scoreboard. Airee collaborated with Spinner Sandeep Lamichhane to add 79 runs to ease Nepal to victory. Lamichhane remained not out with a 37-ball 23. 

Opener Kushal Bhurtel chipped in with 35 runs from the top while one-man down Gyanendra Malla (13) and lower-middle order Gulshan Jha (12) were other two-digit scorers for Nepal. 

Muhammad Jawadullah picked three wickets to make most of the damage to the Nepali top order. Junaid Siddique, Ali Naseer, Sanchit Sharma and Rohan Mustafa picked one wicket each for the UAE. 

Put on to bat first, the UAE managed to score 181 runs being all out in 46.5 overs. Spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and Pacer Karan KC led the bowling onslaught of Nepal to dismiss the UAE for a medium score. 

Lamichhane and KC both picked three wickets each in the damage of the Gulf nation. 

Stand-in captain Vriitya Aravind led the charge of UAE batting with his patient knock of 75-ball 44. 

The UAE recovered from the early jolt of losing Opener Asif Khan for nought after Aravind put on a 64-run stand with opener Aryansh Sharma (43-ball 28) for the second wicket. 

After Aravind returned to the pavilion with 97/4 on the scoreboard, Rohan Mustafa steadied the ship of the UAE pairing with Basil Hameed with a 62-run partnership for the fifth wicket. 

Mustafa chipped in 35 runs off 56 balls and Hameed added 35-ball 29 before being out.  Sanchit Sharma (12) and Rameez Shahzad (10) were other double-digit contributors for the UAE.

Pacer KC finished with a figure of 3-36 in his spell of 8.5 overs. Spinner Lamichhane conceded 23 runs and played three maiden overs to claim three wickets. Pratis GC, Gulshan Jha and Dipendra Singh Airee picked one wicket each.