Gyanendra Malla scored fastest half-century for Nepal as Pubudu Dassanayake’s boys pulled off a nine-wicket victory over Saudi Arabia in the ACC Trophy Elite on Sunday.
Chasing 132-run target at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, Nepal reached 133/1 in just 13.1 overs as Malla remained unbeaten on 61 runs.
It was the first One-Day encounter betweenNepalandSaudi Arabia.
Openers Subash Khakurel and Anil Mandal put up 52-run opening partnership. Mandal scored 29 runs off 25 balls before Mohammad Nadeem bowled him out. However, Khakurel remained unbeaten with 35 runs off 31 balls.
Vice captain Malla was superb in his batting and scored unbeaten 61 runs off 23 balls to seal the easy victory. He hit 13 boundaries and a towering six during the innings. He struck six consecutive boundaries off Mohammad Nadeem in the 10th over to become the first Nepali cricketer to strike six boundaries in an over.
Man-of-the-match Malla had reached the half-century only from 18 balls. It was the fastest half-century scored by Nepali batsman. Until now, Raju Khadka had the record to his name as he had scored a half-century from 37 balls againstBhutanin 2003.
Earlier,Nepalelected to field and restrictedSaudi Arabiato 131 runs in 48.2 overs. Captain Paras Khadka and Basant Regmi took three wickets each while Shakti Gauchan and Bhuwan Karki claimed two wickets each.
Ifthakar Ali (unbeaten 28 runs), Mohammad Mohsin (27 runs), Mohammad Nadeem (19 runs) and Nadeem Al-Nadwi (16 runs) were the major contributors for the Saudi Arabia.
“It was an expected result. We were to set up good net run rate from the match and we maintained it. However, we are still missing fast bowlers as both of them are suffering from injury,” said Nepali team coach Dassanayake.
Dassanayake applauded Malla´s innings against Saudi Arabia. “It was brilliant knock with good cricketing shots. We were to push Saudi Arabia to seal the match as soon as possible and he batted brilliantly,” he said.