Shakti Gauchan took four wickets including a hat-trick and Pradeep Airee scored blistering 65 runs off 43 balls to script consecutive victory for Nepal in the ICC World T20 Qualifiers in the UAE beating Denmark by nine wickets on Wednesday.
Denmark elected to bat first but they were all out at 82 runs in 19.1 overs.
Gauchan was the hero of Nepali bowling attack. He gave the first breakthrough to Nepal in the first ball of his first spell. He bowled Shehzad Ahmed (11 runs).
Danish top order got the start but could not turn it to big one. Michael Pedersen (13 runs) was short of the crease. Sanjam Regmi bowled opener Freddie Klokker (21 runs).
Pradeep Airee plays a shot during the ICC World T20 Qualifiers being held in the UAE. Photo: ICC
Denmark was at 58/3 after the completion of 12 overs. Nepali skipper called Gauchan for his second spell in the 13th over, which turned the match. Paras Khadka caught Rizwan Mahmood (11 runs) off Gauchan in the second ball of the over. Then, Gauchan bowled Aftab Ahmed and trapped Kamran Mahmood lbw in the next two balls to complete hat-trick.
Prithu Baskota claimed the wickets of Bobby Chawla (7 runs) and James Moniz (13 runs) while Basanta Regmi took the wicket of Bashir Shah (1 run). Raja Basit Javed was also short of the crease.
In reply, Nepal lost opener Paresh Lohani (3 runs) with 7 runs on board in the second over. However, Pradeep Airee and Sharad Vesawkar put up 78 runs partnership for the second wicket to guide Nepal to 85/1 in 12.4 overs.
Airee smacked seven boundaries and four huge sixes to score 65 runs off 43 balls with the strike rate of 151.16. Airee lofted the fourth ball of the 11th over off Bashir Shah over the head of the umpire to bring up his fifty. Airee signed off the blistering innings with a six off Pedersen.
It was the second victory of Nepal in the Qualifiers. Nepal defeated Hong Kong by 28 runs in their first match on Tuesday.
Nepal will take on Papua New Guinea on Thursday in their third match of the tournament.