Nepali national cricket team finally broke the jinx against the UAE and clinched its first ever victory over the Arab side in One-Day format of cricket on Wednesday.
Nepalhad lost all the six matches played against the UAE in the past. With the victory over the UAE, Nepali national cricket team stretched its winning streak to nine matches in the One-Day format.
Anil Mandal receives man-of-the-match from ACC Development officer Ali Anwar Jafri.
Photo Courtesy: ACC
Nepalobserved a rollercoaster ride but ultimately won its first match of the ACC Trophy Elite by four wickets against the host UAE at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Chasing 134-run target,Nepallost opener Subash Khakurel (1 run), Gyanendra Malla (4 runs) and captain Paras Khadka (4 runs) cheaply andNepalwas at 11/3 in 6.3 overs. After scoring eight runs in the third over of the innings,Nepalcould not add single run in the next five overs.
However, opener Anil Mandal did not loose his cool even in such painful scenario. He put up 37-run fourth wicket partnership with Sharad Vesawkar (16 runs off 51 balls) to build a platform.
AsNepalwas going slow, Pradeep Airee came on the crease blazing all guns. He opened his account through a towering six. Airee (17 runs off 24 balls) put up a 46-run fifth wicket partnership with Mandal. Airee hit two sixes to speed up Nepali innings.
Madal played cautiously and waited until 74th ball for his first boundary. He scored 63 runs off 129 balls including five boundaries. Arshad Ali took his wicket in the first ball of 39th over, whenNepalwas 112/6.
Prithu Baskota chipped in and remained unbeaten with invaluable 15 runs off 24 balls while Shakti Gauchan added unbeaten eight runs to seal the victory.
Manjula Guruge, who has done earlier damage toNepal, took three wickets while Arshad Ali claimed two wickets.
Earlier, Shakti Gauchan completed five-wicket haul to limit the UAE at 133 runs in 40.5 overs. It is second five-wicket haul of Gauchan in One-Day format at the international level.
As Nepali spin bowling dominated the UAE batsmen, Basant Regmi claimed three wickets. More importantly, Nepali medium pacers, Amrit Bhattarai, skipper Khadka and Pradeep Airee well supported spinners. Bhattarai and Khadka claimed a wicket each.
Mohammad Ahmed was the top scorer for the UAE with 33 runs including three boundaries and two sixes. Openers Haroon Iftikar (18 runs) and Abdul Shakoor (15 runs), captain Khurram Khan (20 runs), Rohan Mustafa (12 runs) and Arshad Ali (12 runs) were the other contributors for the UAE.
“We played a fantastic game today (Wednesday). We always believed that we belong to Division 1. Today, we proved it by beating the UAE. Well-done and all the credits to boys,” wrote overwhelmed Nepali team coach Pubudu Dassanayake on his facebook wall.
Nepali opener Mandal was adjudged man-of-the-match for his sensible batting.
Nepalwill take onKuwaitin its next match on Saturday.