Nepal’s quest for a third consecutive title in international cricket ended in a defeat on Wednesday as Afghanistan registered a seven-wicket victory in the final of the ACC Twenty20 Cup at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur.
Playing its first T20 final, Nepal was expecting to upset Afghanistan, the winner of the all three previous editions of the tournament. However, Afghanistan bowlers made things difficult for Nepal after their captain Mohammad Nabi won the toss and elected to field.
Afghanistan restricted Nepal to 135/6 and reached 137/3 with 13 balls remaining to maintain its dominance in the shortest version of the game on the Asian associate nations.
“We didn’t get a desired start and we took time to recover from an early damage. We were short of runs though there was no troublesome bowling from Afghanistan,” said Nepali skipper Paras Khadka.
“We lost two wickets early in the match and took time to recover. We were short by some 30-40 runs,” said Nepali team coach Pubudu Dassanayake.
“When I came here some 15 months ago, it was the same team but we were not even close to Afghanistan. I”m happy with the way we played in this tournament,” added Dassanayake.
Medium pacer Gulbadin Naib dismissed Nepali openers Subash Khakurel (10 runs) and Pradeep Airee (1 run) in his first two overs. Shapoor Zadran dismissed Gyanendra Malla (10 runs off 14 balls) to leave Nepal in panic at 23/3 in 4.3 overs.
Skipper Khadka and Binod Bhandari played cautiously for the next three overs to recover from the damage and build a partnership. Khadka and Bhandari put up a 71-run partnership off 71 balls to guide Nepal to a competitive total. Bhandari was caught by Aftab Alam at long off in the second ball of the 17th over bowled by Hamza Hotak. Bhandari scored 32 runs off 39 balls including three boundaries and a six.
Sharad Vesawkar joined skipper Khadka at the crease. They put up a 20-run partnership for the fifth wicket. However, Khadka was run out in the last ball of the 18th over, a result of misunderstanding between the batting partners. Khadka scored 50 runs off 40 balls with four boundaries and two sixes. It was his fifth T20 half-century and the second of the tournament. Prithu Baskota (2 runs) also lost his wicket in a similar fashion. Vesawkar remained unbeaten with 20 runs off 11 balls. He struck three boundaries in the last over off Aftab Alam.
Captain Mohammad Nabi was the most expensive bowler for Afghanistan as Nepali skipper Khadka smashed two boundaries and a six in the 18th over. Nabi gave away altogether 31 runs in his two overs.
Chasing the modest total, Afghanistan openers Karim Sadiq and Gulbadin Naib put up a 43-run opening stand by the completion of seventh over. Sadiq (32 runs off 25 balls) was run out by Prithu Baskota.
Naib, then, put up another 25-run partnership with Najibullah Zadran (15 runs) for the second wicket. Shakti Gauchan took the wicket of Zadran in the fourth ball of the 10th over. Paras Khadka dismissed Samiullah Shenwari (nine runs) in the 12th over but Naib stayed firm on the crease. He put up an unbeaten 54-run partnership with his captain Nabi as both of them played Nepali spinners with comfort to seal the victory. Naib remained unbeaten with 43 runs off 42 balls and Nabi clobbered 38 runs off 23 balls. Naib scored a boundary and a six while Nabi struck six boundaries. Naib was adjudged the man-of-the-match.
“We had included some youngsters in the team but all the boys put up a good performance throughout the tournament,” said Afghanistan captain Nabi. “We were under a little bit of pressure in the final since it was almost like playing against the crowd but we succeeded,” he added.
Khadka wins man-of-the-series
Nepali skipper Khadka was adjudged the man-of-the-series in the ACC T20 Cup. Khadka scored 207 runs with an average of 41.40 and strike rate of 141.78 in the tournament. He also claimed four wickets in the tournament.
It is the second consecutive man-of-the-series award for Khadka. He was adjudged the man-of-the-series in the ACC Trophy Elite held in the UAE six month ago.
Prizes for Nepali team
Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced cash reward of Rs 50,000 each to members of the Nepali team for finishing runner-up in the tournament. CAN General Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakuryal made the announcement during the presentation ceremony.
Meanwhile, Hansraj and Hulaschand Company awarded a Pulsar-200 bike to Nepali skipper Khadka as the best Nepali player in the tournament. Company’s Executive Director Shekhar Golchha handed over the key of the bike to Khadka.
Likewise, Sachdeva Entrance Preparation’s owner Samir Jung Karki announced Rs 50,000 cash reward for the Nepali team.