Nepal’s lower-order efforts fall short against Canada

Kathmandu, Sept. 24: The second match of the CWC League 2 tri-series against Canada on Sunday night had a few surprises for Nepali cricket fans. Firstly, skipper Rohit Kumar Paudel, at a time when the Nepali batting order was in poor form, chose to bat first after winning the toss. 

Second, Nepal continued with the same squad that lost to Oman on September 20. Thus, the three major players of the squad – Kushal Bhurtel, Dipendra Singh Airee and Kushal Malla – who were dropped in the previous match against Oman, were not in the squad against Canada on Sunday.

However, the top and middle order could not perform satisfactorily once again. Thanks to the lower order, the team, from a situation where even the 100-run mark was a far cry, was at least able to put up a decent total 

of 181 runs.

Replacing opener Kushal Bhurtel, Arju Saud could not build a steady partnership with Aasif Sheikh for the first wicket. Aasif departed for a paltry two runs in 4.2 overs and Bhim Sharki (4 off 8) followed him as the second wicket in the final ball of the seventh over. 

By the end of the 12th over, Nepal had lost three more wickets – Arjun (10 off 27), Rohit Paudel (4 off 11) and Anil Sah (1 off 4).

In-at-five Aarif Sheikh, tried building a partnership with in-at-seven Gulshan Jha, but the duo could only take the team to 70 runs before Aarif (10 off 33) departed as the sixth wicket in 22.3 overs.

Gulshan added 34 off 56 and departed as the seventh wicket in the 28th over leaving the team at 87/7. It was then that Nepal was expected to not even cross the 100-run mark. However, Nepal’s leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane was not ready to accept it.

Lamichhane gave the Nepali supporters, who came to King City for the match, reasons to cheer. With five fours and a six, Lamichhane returned to the pavilion falling short of only a run for his half-century. By the time Lamichhane departed, Nepal was at 181/9. Sompal Kami and Karan KC’s 21 off 48 and 24 off 28 were of great aid to Nepal respectively.

Kaleem Sana took three wickets against Nepal while Dilon Heyliger and Harsh Thaker bagged two each. Debutant Parveen Kumar and Saad Bin Zafar took one each.

Nepal was motivated after returning to bowl as they put up a fighting target by the end. The motivation intensified after opener Aaron Johnson was caught out for 0 off 11 in 4.2 overs in the ball of Karan KC.

Meanwhile, Navneet Dhaliwal and in-at-three Pargat Singh took Canada near to the win with a partnership of over 100 runs. Singh departed (64 off 83) in 30.3 overs and Dhaliwal added 87 off 113 before departing in the 38th over leaving the team at 169/3.

Nepal took two quick wickets after it – Harsh Thaker (13 off 24) and Akhil Kumar (2 off 10). But skipper Nicholas Kirton added 11 off 8 and Shreyas Movva contributed 2 off 5 to chase the target of 182 runs successfully with five wickets and 48 balls in hand.

Nepal is playing the final match of the tri-series against Oman today (Tuesday, September 24).