Nepal looked in disarray in a six-wicket defeat on the hands of Hong Kong in the ACC Twenty20 Cup at TU Ground.
A day after a convincing victory against Maldives, Nepal handed over equally convincing win to the strong opponent as it managed a modest total of 115 for 9 in 20 overs.
The target was never going to tough for Hong Kong, but they made it even easier by going out aggressively and scoring 39 runs in first three overs – thanks to Irfan Ahmad.
Ahmad went after Nepali bowling hitting a couple of consecutive sixes and another couple of consecutive fours to mutter 21 runs in Amrit Bhattarai’s over.
Stumped! Hong Kong captain James Atkinson appeals against Nepal captain Paras Khadka. Photo: NagarikNews
He was out next over, holing out on Basant Regmi’s delivery, but after completing his part of job and then onwards, it’s a simple task to getting around four runs an over on a turning wicket.
Shakti Gauchan got James Atkinson on nought next over but Waqas Barkat and Nizakat Khan continued the exploits getting singles and occasional boundaries.
Basant bowled a superb over taking Barkat’s knock of 39 runs off 37 balls and got new man C Kruger a couple of balls later but it was too late as Hong Kong required five more runs to win after that.
They completed the target in 16.3 overs without trouble for a comprehensive victory that silenced the lively crowd.
Earlier, a good knock from Gyanendra Malla held things together for Nepal , however, the hosts failed miserably to play like in a T20 game.
The batsmen began well but failed to continue and accelerate in testing wickets where Hong Kong kept Nepal under tightrope with some excellent bowling and fielding.
Tanwir Afzal had two earlier before spinners Nadeem Ahmed led the bowling with 3/18. Aizaz Khan got a couple and 16-year-old K Shah got the prize wicket of Sharad Vesawkar who advanced but failed to connect.
Gyanendra scored 38 off 39 balls, Pradeep Airee 21 off 23, Binod Bhandari 15 and Shakti Gauchan 11 while none other batsmen reached double-digit.
Nepal will have a couple of days to rest and review the match before they play Malaysia on Saturday.