Nepal’s gritting bowling seals win in first of three ODIs against Canada

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Feb. 9: Captain Rohit Kumar Paudel was the man of the day for Nepal as his four-wicket haul helped the team win the first of the three ODI matches against Canada on Thursday. 

Nepal, with two debutants, won the match by a bare margin of seven runs as Canada was bundled out for 217 runs by the end of the 48th over. With six bowlers claiming at least one wicket each, Nepal was able to defend a not-so-high target of 225 in front of a dazzling crowd at the TU International 

Cricket Ground. Electing to bat first, the opening pair of Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh started in great form. They took the team to 48 runs before Aasif (8 off 24) departed as the first wicket in 9.1 overs.

Captain Paudel failed with the bat as he followed Aasif in the 15th over after facing 17 deliveries and adding eight runs. Bhurtel crossed the half-century mark but returned to the pavilion adding 62 off 58. 

The middle order tried holding on as every batsman scored in double figures, but it was not enough. Bhim Sarki, Kushal Malla, Aarif Sheikh and Pawan Sarraf added 17, 20, 38 and 15 runs respectively. 

Sompal Kami also added 27 runs in 23 balls while debutant Surya Tamang, staying not out, contributed 10 off 32. 

Uday Bhagwan was Canada’s highest wicket-taker with three while captain Saad Bin Zafar and Ishwarjot Sohi bagged two each. Shahid Ahmadzai and Harsh Thaker also claimed one each.

Thaker, Pargat Singh and Nicholas Kirton were the biggest headache for Nepal while defending the target. While Pargat departed after a half-century in 19.4 overs leaving Canada at 114/3, Thaker and Kirton took the team to 174. Kushal Malla came to the breakthrough as he bowled out Thaker (32 off 43) in the 33rd over.

Canada was in the chase until Kirton was at the crease. However, after he was bowled out by Sarraf, who returned to the national team after a long break, in the 41st over, Nepal was back in the game. Kirton departed at 66 runs off 99 deliveries.

While opener Aaron Johnson added 20 off 15, none of the other Canadian batsmen scored in double digits. Paudel bowled out Sohi in the 48th over to win the match for Nepal.

Canada’s captain and most experienced player Zafar was still at the crease making Nepali fans nervous as the target was low. However, he was one of the five wickets that fell in the final powerplay without adding enough runs on the board for the team.

Meanwhile, Paudel bowled two maiden overs and gave only 22 runs in his spell of 8.5 overs while he took four wickets. Lalit Rajbanshi bagged two wickets, and Kami, Sarraf and Malla took one each.

While debutant Tamang, who was the highest wicket-taker in the PM Men’s Cup 2024, did not open his account in international cricket, another debutant Rijan Dhakal took his first. Dhakal bagged the wicket of opener Navneet Dhaliwal in his first over in international cricket.

Dhakal gave 34 runs in seven overs while Tamang gave away 32 runs in his spell of five overs. Captain Paudel started bowling more overs after he saw the team losing. He used his experience effectively to play a captain’s inning and win the match for the team.

Meanwhile, while two players debuted for Nepal, five players – Sohi, Dhaliwal, Shreyas Movva, Ahmadzai and Bhagwan – debuted for Canada in the ODI format. 

The second match of the bilateral series of 3 ODIs will be played on February 10 with the final match played on February 12. Nepal will be looking forward to clinching the series by winning the second ODI in front of a bigger crowd on Saturday.