Skipper Paras Khadka blasted 80 runs as Nepali national cricket team defeated Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) U-25 team by 36 runs on Tuesday in its second practice match in the India tour. DDCA U-25 had defeated Nepal by four wickets in the first match on Monday.
DDCA U-25 elected to field first at the Roshanara Club Ground, Delhi. Nepal put up 148/6 in allotted 20 overs and restricted DDCA U-25 at 112/9.
Toss (Photo Courtesy: CAN)
Opener Sagar Pun failed to open his account while Subash Khakurel put up 25 runs off 17 balls. Pradeep Airee added 12 runs off 14 balls and Gyanendra Malla garnered 13 runs off 13 balls. However, skipper Khadka anchored and boosted the Nepali innings by clobbering 80 runs off 58 balls. Khadka hit seven boundaries and a six. Khadka was run out in the penultimate ball of the innings. Binod Bhandari scored six runs while Sharad Vesawkar remained unbeaten with six runs.
Abhishek Bhatti took three wickets while Rishij Saini and Manoj Chouhan claimed a wicket each.
Sagar Pun claimed four wickets and Jitendra Mukhiya took three not to let DDCA batsmen to settle and anchor the innings. Basant Regmi dismissed two DDCA batsmen to seal the win.
Openers Mohit Sharma (19 runs) and Shaurabh Pasi (16 runs) put up 35 run partnership. Milind Kumar added 18 runs off 17 balls in the middle while rest of the middle order failed to reach double-digit scores. Tail-ender Nitesh Lochabh tried to bring DDCA U-25 back in the game scoring 26 runs off 17 balls but Mukhiya claimed his wicket in the first ball of the 19th over.
Nepal and DDCA U-25 will play their third match on Wednesday at the Roshanara Club Ground.
The Nepali team is scheduled to play seven practice matches during its Delhi tour.
Nepal is touring the Indian capital as part of preparations for the upcoming ICC World T20 Qualifiers to be held in the United Arab Emirates from November 15 to 30. Nepal has been drawn in Group B of the qualifiers along with Afghanistan, Scotland, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Bermuda and Denmark.
The top six teams of the qualifiers will progress to the World T20 2014 to be held in Bangladesh.