Nepal ended the first day of the three-day ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament/ICC InterContinental Cup match against United Arab Emirates on a encouraging note at 246/5 here at the TU Cricket Ground Kirtipur.
Sarad Veswakar is still unbeaten with 73 while Shakti Guachan too contributed with a half-century (68) and opener Kaniska Chaugai got 47. Mehboob Alam, who wicket on the first ball of the last over of the day ended the day, made 34. Nepal claimed 4.5 points while UAE 2.5 on the first day.
“This was the comeback I wanted,†Sarad, who returned to international cricket after a long gap due to illness in the last match, said. “I will certainly try for a century tomorrow.†Sarad’s 117-ball knock included six fours and he shared a century partnership with Shakti.
Shakti, before his soft dismissal off Usman Salim at short mid-on, scored 68 off 196 balls with five fours. His 106-run foruth-wicket partnership with Sarad was the highlight of the day. “We need someone to anchor the innings, and Shakti did that,†Nepal’s coach Roy Dias said. Dias also praised Sarad for his brilliant batting and his team’s performance overall.
Earlier, captain Binod Das elected to bat first after the match was started after lunch due to wet outfield caused by overnight rainfall. His decision looked like backfiring when Nepal lost Paresh Lohani (0) and Dipendra Chaudhary (3) within 19 runs. Paresh was caught behind off Zahid Shah by Taskeen while Dipendra was adjudged leg before while he tried to pay across the line.
But Kaniska got a good going with Shakti. They added 65 runs before Kaniska failed in his attempt to drive an overpithed delivery and gave a return catch to Rizwan Latif. He also couldn’t touch the half-century mark by three runs.
Mehboob seemed to be in his aggressive style but tried to played down on the ground scoring run-a-ball 34 with seven fours before he failed while trying to pull a Zahid Shah delivery. “Nepali batsmen played sensitively,†UAE coach Syed Abid Ali said adding that his bowlers weren’t aggressive for wickets.