Nepal start T20I series with 7-wkt win over UAE

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Oct. 19: Nepal triumphed over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the first match of the Triangular T20I series on Wednesday. Captain Rohit Paudel played an unbeaten knock of 51 runs to steer his team to a seven-wicket victory. Paudel won the toss and opted to bowl first, restricting UAE to 140 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their allotted 20 overs at Upper Mulpani Cricket Ground. Nepal chased down the target comfortably in 18 overs by posting 144, with six balls to spare.

Captain Paudel credited Nepal's bowlers for the victory, saying, "Nepal was able to win the match because of good bowling. The batting could have been better, but I am happy with the win."

Nepal faced initial hiccups in their chase and lost three wickets within the first nine overs. But Skipper Paudel remained unfazed and played a captain's knock, leading Nepal to victory with an unbeaten 93-run partnership with Dipendra Singh Airee. Airee played a supporting role, scoring 34 runs off 23 balls.

This is the biggest partnership made by any Nepali batters in the T20I for the fourth wicket. The previous big partnership of 85 runs was shared by former captain Paras Khadka and Sharad Vesawkar against Bangladesh during the T20 World Cup in 2014.

Paudel cracked five boundaries off 40 balls. He completed his fifty by hitting the winning boundary. 

Airee also remained not out in the crease with 34 runs off 23 balls that included three fences and a six. Before Paudel and Airee’s match-winning partnership, Nepal lost Opener Kushal Bhurtel for run-a-ball 14, Asif Sheikh for 27-ball 23 and Kushal Malla for 9-ball 11. 

Spinner Nilansh Keswani made Bhurtel caught at the hand of Ali Naseer in the 4.2 over. One-down batter Malla fell as a second wicket after being run out by Ali Naseer in the 7th over. Opener Shekih became the victim of Naseer’s ball as he holed out to captain Muhammad Waseem in the penultimate ball of the ninth over. 

Earlier, Nepal's pacers dominated UAE's batting lineup, preventing them from posting a big score. Karan KC took three wickets, while Gulshan Jha dismissed two wickets for Nepal. Sompal Kami and Abhinash Bohara also claimed one wicket. 

Thee UAE had a shaky start after reeling to 52/4 in 8.4 overs. Opening bowler Kami made Opener Khalid Shah (6-ball 0) caught by Paudel in the sixth ball of the innings. Then KC and Jha combined to rip off the top and middle order of the visitors. KC made a one-down Alishan Sharafu (7-ball 6) caught behind by Wicket Keeper Sheikh in the 3.1 over.

Jha then picked a prized wicket of UAE captain Muhammad Waseem (18-ball 17) in the 6.1 over. The top order of the UAE collapsed after Jha made Asif Khan (12-ball 15) caught by Sundeep Jora in the fourth ball of nine over. 

The UAE bounced back with the fifth-wicket partnership between Ali Naseer and Basil Hameed. They shared 56 runs to revive the innings of the visitors. 

Hameed smacked four sixes and a boundary to score the highest 51 runs off 38 balls for the UAE. He was dismissed by Abinash Bohara in the 18.4 overs. 

Naseer chipped in with a 30-ball 32 before being out by KC in 16.1 overs. 

KC spent 19 runs to claim three wickets while Jha conceded 11 runs for his two wickets. Kami gave away 21 runs and Bohara was expensive with 38 runs.  As the pacer dominated Nepal’s bowling, three spinners failed to claim any wickets today.

Spinner Mausam Dhakal made his T20I debut for Nepal by bowling two overs.  UAE captain Waseem said Paudel and Airee’s batting took the game away from us despite we bowled well.  

Nepal faces Hong Kong in their second match at Mulpani on Thursday.