US beat Nepal by three wickets

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Oct. 29: Nepal was outshone by the USA in the triangular ODI series under the ICC World Cup Cricket League-2 cycle in Dallas, Texas on Sunday night. 

Nepal lost to the host USA by three wickets. Put on to bat first at Grand Prairie Ground, Nepal posted 286 runs, being all out in 50 overs. The USA chased the victory target successfully, posting 291/7 with two balls to spare.

The US rode on a century of Shayan Jahangir and two fifties from Monank Patel and Harmeet Singh to bag a seventh win at the League-2. Nepal, on the other hand, conceded its seventh defeat in the League 2. 

The US sits in second place on the table with 14 points from ten matches. Nepal, on the other hand, occupies seventh place with three points from nine matches so far. Nepal will also play its second match of the US League-2 series against Scotland on October 29. Scotland is in fourth place with 11 points from eight matches. The UAE holds the bottom place with two points from seven matches.

After losing Andries Gous (1) as the first wicket in the second over, Player of the Match Shayan lifted the US innings by teaming up with Monak Patel for a 165-run second wicket stand. Patel scored 62 runs off 76 balls before being bowled by Lalit Rajbanshi in 28.5 over. 

Shayan was posing a threat to Nepali bowlers as he cruised to his second century off 94 balls. Kushal Bhurtel gave a breakthrough by making Shayan catch out by Karan KC in 31.1 overs. Shayan cracked 12 boundaries and four maximums of 97 balls in his 104-run contribution. 

After taking a prized wicket of Shayan, Kushal picked the wickets of Milind Kumar (5), Sanjay Krishnamurthi (0) and Saiteja Mukkamalla (11) making the US six men down with 197 runs on the scoreboard. 

The 71-run stand for the seventh wicket partnership by Harmeet and Shadley van Schalkwyk shattered Nepal’s hope of registering the second victory at League-2. Harmeet smashed 57 runs off 44 balls that included six fours and two sixes. 

Schalkwyk (29) and Jasdeep Singh (11) remained not out to cruise US home. Along with Kushal, Sompal Kami also picked two wickets for Nepal. 

Earlier, Nepal made a strong start with a 98-run opening partnership by Anil Sah and Aasif Sheikh. Anil hit 56 runs off 62 balls and Aasif added 52 runs off 53 balls. 

Captain Rohit Paudel then took charge of Nepal’s innings by adding 92 runs off 75 balls. His batting included eight boundaries and three sixes. Aarif Sheikh managed to add 37 runs while Kushal Bhurtel (11), Dipendra Singh Airee (13), Gulshan Jha (1), Sompal Kami (2), Sandeep Lamichhane (5), Karan KC (3) and Lalit Rajbanshi (1) returned to the pavilion with a paltry score. 

All the US bowlers picked the wickets of Nepal. Nosthush Kenjige was the pick of the bowler with a four-wicket haul. Saurabh Netravalkar claimed two wickets while Schalkwyk, Jasdeep Singh and Harmeet also had one wicket each. 

In the previous five ODI matches, the US and Nepal had won two matches each. They have one match tied. Nepal could not emulate the momentum they created during the 3-0 clean sweep of the T20I Series last week against the US.