Cricket Nepal (Archive)

Nepal fulfilled pre-tournament expectations to lift the ICC World Twenty20 Asia Qualifier ‘B’ trophy despite having their final match against Singapore abandoned in Malaysia on Friday.

Heavy rain in Klang denied either side a chance to end the tournament with six successive wins as Nepal finished top of the seven-team standings with 11 points, the same as Singapore, but with superior run-rate.

Malaysia defeated China by 10 wickets in Bangi to claim third spot on a better net run-rate from Thailand after both teams wound up with seven points.

The victory enabled Malaysia to join Nepal and Singapore in qualifying for the Asia Regional Finals from this tournament. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait qualified from the Asia Qualifier ‘A’ in April.

Nepal’s Sandeep Lamichhane emerged as the tournament’s highest wicket-taker after claiming 4/16 to take his tally to 24 as Singapore were bowled out for 81 in 17.3 overs at the Bayuemas Oval.

Sompal Kami (2/20) reduced Singapore to 15/2 after removing Aritra Dutta (4) and Chaminda Kumarage (6) before Lamichhane dismissed Singapore captain Chetan Suryawanshi for 9.

Surendran Chandramohan attempted to revive Singapore in a fourth-wicket stand of 28 with Manpreet Singh but after Basant Regmi had Surendran bowled for 25 following a brief rain interruption, Singapore lost their last six wickets for the addition of 21 runs.

Surendran, though, had the consolation of becoming the tournament’s highest run-scorer with 148 at an average of 29.60.

Nepal only faced three balls, with Shoaib Razzak having Anil Kumar Shah out for nought, before play was halted again at 1/1 due to heavy rain.

“It has been a well-disciplined, clinical tournament for us with everybody up to the mark irrespective of our opponents. We had to play to our standards and glad that we were able to do that,” said Nepal captain Paras Khadka.

“We can’t control the weather and 82 is a score we would have backed ourselves to get. This is just the first stage, the second round won’t be as easy as this round. Hopefully we can continue to show the form we have shown this past week.

Nepal bowled out China for 26 runs and beat them in 11 balls to record its fifth win in a trot at the ICC World Twenty20 Asia Qualifier B.

At the Bayuemas Oval, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi and Basant Regmi each took three wickets as Nepal bowled China out for 26 runs. Sandeep, who was named Player of the Match for 3 wickets for 4 runs in 4 overs, raised his tally of wickets to a tournament-leading 20, nine ahead of Singapore’s Manpreet.

Just one Chinese batsman, Hong Jiang Yan reached double figures – opening the batting he made 11 from 27 balls, while six batsmen were out for ducks and one other remained not out on zero.

Binod Bhandari (24*) and Pradeep Airee then took just 11 balls to score 29 runs and secure Nepal’s fifth win of the competition.

Singapore, who have won all five matches in the tournament, set up a final day showdown with Nepal for the trophy. The two teams are top of the seven-team standings with 10 points each from five wins, and meet on Friday in Klang to decide the winners of the competition.

Nepal secured its berth to the ICC World Twenty20 Asia Finals after confirming a top-three finish at the ICC World T20 Asia Qualifier ‘B’ in Malaysia on October 9 with a 117-run victory over Bhutan.

Alongside Nepal, Singapore also claimed a fourth win and a berth in the Finals with an eight-wicket victory over Thailand in Klang. Both teams have eight points with Nepal top of the standings on a better net run-rate. The two teams cannot finish lower than second as they are three points ahead of Malaysia and Thailand, who each have just one game remaining.

Nepal bowled Bhutan out for 33 runs in 16.4 overs after scoring 150 for the loss of four wickets in 20 overs at the UKM Oval. Sandeep Lamichhane and Lalit Rajbanshi shared the bowling honours with three wickets each as four Bhutan batsmen failed to score.

Earlier, Pradeep Airee paced Nepal with 75 runs for the highest score of the tournament after blasting six fours and two sixes off 68 balls. Pradeep, named Player of the Match, was supported by Anil Kumar Shah (27) as they put on 66 runs for the second wicket.

Brief scores: Nepal 150/4 in 20 overs (Pradeep Airee 75*, Anil Sah 27, DS Airee 15, Aasif Sheik 13, Karan KC 11*) beat Bhutan 33 all out in 16.4 overs (Tenzin Wangchuk jnr 11, LN Rajbanshi 3/4, Sandeep Lamichhane 3/6, Basant Regmi 2/7, DS Airee 1/13, Sharad Vesawkar 1/0) by 117 runs.

Nepal meant business in setting the tournament’s highest total of 172-7 as Karan KC plundered 21 runs off Nicholas Janes in the final over, including three consecutive sixes, in compiling an unbeaten 40.

Karan later returned to claim three wickets for two runs to take the man-of-the-match honour as shell-shocked Thailand collapsed to 18/9 after 8.5 overs before play was called off due to rain.

A reshuffled line-up saw Nepal out of the blocks quickly when put in to bat by Thailand as Anil Kumar Shah (25), Binod Bhandari (15), Sharad Vesawkar (34) and Dipendra Singh Airee (30) quickly set about putting runs on the board.

But Thailand struck back in the middle of the innings with four wickets for the addition of 15 runs as Payuputh Sungnard finished with four for 21 before Karan’s final flourish in a 44-run stand for the eighth wicket with Sompal Kami.

Thailand could not have made a worst start to their chase after losing Md Shafiqul Haque and Daniel Jacobs after eight balls with just one run scored.

With dark clouds gathering over the ground, Nepal were in a hurry to wrap up the win and Thailand were soon 6/3 when Janes was trapped leg-before by Sandeep Lamichhane.

A day after taking five wickets against Malaysia, Sandeep again ended with five for eight including three scalps in the space of four deliveries in the eighth over to take his tournament tally to 14 wickets.

“It has been a good three games but we take nothing for granted and we go out there to do our best. I’m glad everybody has put in that effort” said Nepal captain Paras Khadka.

“At the end of the first innings, the weather looked a bit sketchy so we wanted to finish off the five overs as quickly as possible just to get a result under D/L. The bowlers responded splendidly.”

Sandeep Lamichhane became the first player in the seven-team tournament to claim five wickets in a match in Nepal’s eight-wicket win over Malaysia in Klang.

Man-of-the-match Lamichhane, who claimed five wickets in Nepal’s win over Malaysia, was aided by Sompal Kami (3/16) in dismissing Malaysia for 100 with three balls remaining at the Bayuemas Oval.

Captain Paras Khadka then dominated the Malaysian bowling with an unbeaten 52 off 37 balls for the second half-century of the tournament as Nepal comfortably reached 101/2 in 12.4 overs.

The hosts threatened to make it a contest when they began the 12th over at 75/2 but Sompal made a crucial breakthrough by bowling Malaysia captain Ahmad Faiz Mohammed Noor and Syahadat Ramli with successive deliveries.

Anwar Arudin denied Sompal’s bid for a hat-trick but Faiz’s exit saw Malaysia lose eight wickets for 25 runs. Sandeep was also denied a hat-trick by Sharvin Muniandy after ending Shafiq Sharif’s brave knock of 49 and having Virandeep Singh out for a golden duck.

Paras Khadka scores a half-century. Photo: Raman Shiwakoti/CAN,

Paras praised the contribution of Sandeep, whose five wickets came at the cost of 20 runs in four overs.

“It was a great effort by the bowlers to come back from 75/2 and I think a couple of wickets by Sompal really changed the momentum,” said Paras. “Sandeep just came and took over and overall we’re really happy with the bowling and fielding while the batting was clinical.”

“Sandeep has been exceptional every time he has come out to bowl. People expect him to take wickets and it’s not easy coming in with that expectation. He has managed to deliver and I hope he continues to do the same. The other bowlers support him from the other end and he’s come in as one of our attacking weapons.”

Paras had five fours and two sixes in his 37-ball stay at the crease and the captain effectively killed Malaysia’s hopes by hitting Pavandeep Singh for six, four and four off successive balls in the eighth over.

Malaysia’s Faiz rued his side’s inability to build on the start made by Shafiq, who fell just short of his second successive fifty after falling to Sandeep.

“Shafiq was the only one outstanding today and after my exit, it seemed everyone just went blank,” said Faiz. “To lose so many wickets quickly had a big effect on us.”