Nary Thapa put up an all-round performance to seal a six-wicket victory for Nepal over Hong Kong in the ACC Women’s Championship on Monday.
The win helped Nepal to finish on the top of the pool A above Hong Kong. Nepal will take on pool B runner-up Thailand in the semifinal on Wednesday while pool B winner China will take on Hong Kong.
Nepal elected to field and bundled out Hong Kong for 54 runs in 21.4 overs as player-of-the-match Thapa claimed three wickets. Thapa, then, came up to rescue Nepal from a situation of 6/3 in the run chase scoring unbeaten 23 runs off 35 balls and guided Nepal to 55/4 in 18 overs.
Nepali captain Rubina Chhetri bowls against Hong Kong. (Photo Courtesy: ACC)
Hong Kong openers Yip Sze Wan (14 runs off 44 balls) and Chan Ka Ying (12 runs off 23 balls) put up a 23-run partnership, the highest of the innings. However, Hong Kong collapsed after the fall of Ying as none of the batters could reach double-digit scores.
Sarita Magar was the pick of the Nepali bowlers as she claimed four wickets in the middle while Karuna Bhandari dismissed three tail-enders.
Nepal’s run chase also suffered nervous start as openers Madhu Thapa and Sita Magar without scoring a run. Mariko Hill bowled out Thapa while Magar was short to the crease. Nepal was in trouble as Yip Sze Wan caught Roshani Bohara (one run) off Ishitaa Gidwani’s bowling as Nepal reached 6/3 in 3.1 overs.
Karuna Bhandari bowls against Hong Kong. (Photo Courtesy: ACC)
However, Sarita Magar and Nary Thapa anchored Nepali innings putting up a 33-run fourth wicket partnership. Magar scored 14 runs off 43 balls before Tam Shun bowled her out in the fifth ball of the fifteenth over. Thapa remained unbeaten with 23 runs off 35 balls including three boundaries. Nepali captain Rubina Chhetry was also not out with seven runs off 14 balls putting up an unbeaten 16-run partnership with Thapa.
Nary Thapa receives player-of-the-match trophy.
(Photo Courtesy: ACC)
Meanwhile, China beat Thailand by 47 runs to top the pool B. China put up 118 runs in 25 overs losing all wickets and bundled out Thailand for 71 runs in 19 overs.
The final of the tournament will be played on Thursday. The winner of the tournament will progress to Women’s World T20 Qualifiers to be held in Ireland in August.