Spurred by captain Paras Khadka’s 85 off 62 balls, Team Nepal has defeated UAE in the first warm-up match, ahead of World T20 qualifiers in Dubai on Tuesday.
Needing 139 to beat UAE, Nepal lost two or its wickets (Pradeep Airee-0 and Subhash Khakurel-14), with score at 18 in three overs. As Paras belted 9 fours and 4 sixes in his innings Nepal achieved the target with 3 balls to spare.
Nasir Aziz was the most successful UAE bowler with 3 wickets off 4 overs, but he gave away 44 runs in his spell. The other notable contribution for Nepal came from vice-captain Gyanendra Malla, as he scored 25 off 30 deliveries with 3 hits to the boundary.
Earlier, Nepali bowlers restricted UAE to 138, taking wickets at regular intervals. Khurram Khan scored 55 runs off 40 deliveries, but did not find much support from the other end. Four UAE batsmen reached double figures but failed to cross 20s.
Jitendra Mukhiya took 3 wickets for Nepal, as Basanta Regmi was the most economical bowler, giving away 15 runs in his 3 overs. Shakti Gauchan and Sagar Pun (1 wicket) gave away exactly 22 runs in their 4-over spell.