Karuna Bhandari´s five-wicket haul and a hat-trick went in vain as Nepali women cricketers ended their ACC Women´s Twenty20 Championship campaign in the fourth position with a 13-run loss against Thailand in a play-off match for the third place.
Nepal, who had beaten Thailand by 21 runs in the group stage of the same tournament, put up a terrible batting performance.
Thailand won the toss and were all out for 76 runs in 17.5 overs. Chasing the easy target Nepal bundled out for 63 runs in 18.5 overs.
Openers Pundarika Prathanmitr (17) and Sornnarin Tippoch (12) gave a good start to Thailand. However, Karuna Bhandari who bowled 3.5 overs, gave only 12 runs and claimed 5 Thai wickets. Bhandari claimed wickets of Nattaya Boochatham, Narumon Srisuwan and Nantanit Khonchan in the second, third and fourth ball of her third and the innings 16th over to pull a her hat-trick. It was the first hat-trick of the tournament.
Rubina Chhetri and Rashmi Sharma took two wickets each to limit Thailand for 76 runs. Nattakan Chantam (10) and Nattaya Boochatham (15) were the only other Thai batswomen to score in double digits. Six Thai batswomen were out without scoring a single run.
Nepal had an opportunity to claim the consolation win at the KEC Ground, Kuwait, but Nepali women too failed to stay in the crease. Neera Rajopadhyay (12) and Rashmi Sharma (15) were the only Nepali batswomen to score in double digits.
Player of the match Nantanit Khoncham took four wickets for 11 runs and Phira-on Kamla claimed three wickets for 15 runs.
Photo courtesy: Asian Cricket Council