Avenging the defeat suffered in the group rounds, Air India overcame Nepal by five wickets on Saturday in the final of Sagarmatha Cement Journey To World Cup, a cricket tournament organized with the view to prepare Nepal for the ICC World Cup Qualifiers, at the TU Ground, Kirtipur.
The visiting team was defeated by five wickets in the group round match at the same venue on Monday. Put to bat first after losing the toss on Saturday, Nepal scored 264/8 in the 45 over match. In the run chase, Air India made 279 with 10 balls to spare, losing five wickets.
As Nepal had lost three wickets for 93 runs in 21.1 over, skipper Paras Khadka partnered with Binod Bhandari for 148 runs for the fourth wicket. Bhandari who scored the highest 79 off 63 for Nepal, smashed seven fences and three sixes before being bowled by Hitem Dalal in 40.6 over. Skipper Khadka who garnered 61 off 57 hammered six fours and a six. Khadka was caught and bowled by Kuldip Singh in the last delivery of the 40th over.
Earlier, openers Subash Khakurel (9 of 18) and Anil Mandal (45 off 68) contributed for the home team backed by noisy supporters. Mandal hit seven boundaries.
Number three batsman Sagar Pun (35 off 42) and Pradeep Airee (not out 27 off 14) were the other batsmen for Nepal to contributed double digit.
Air India team with trophy.
Sarad Vesawkar (8) returned to the pavilion cheaply while Raj Kumar Pradhan, included by coach Pubudu Dassanayake in his team for the first time, remained unbeaten without scoring. He faced single delivery.
Hiten Dalal was the most successful bowler for India claiming two wickets apiece in his four over spell giving away 36 runs. Raj Bahadur Singh also claimed two wickets in his nine over spell, conceding 52 runs. Faruk Seikh, Kuldip Singh and Sandip Raj Kausik, Jagrit Anand claimed a wicket each.
Air India made a solid start in the run chase as openers Dalal (67) and Manish Sharma (33) put 90 run stand for the first wicket. Dalal quick-fired three sixes and four nines in his 46 ball knock before being caught by Prithu Baskota off Raj Kumar Pradhan.
Fourth order Pradip Malik was the second highest scorer for Air India contributing 64 off 67. He hammered three sixes and four boundaries. Shafiq Khan (not out 41 off 24), Sandip Raj Kausik (34 off 53) Jagrit Anand (26 off 36) and Chandan Madan (not out 2) all had notable contributions for the visiting side.
Sagar Pun claimed two wickets for Nepal in his nine over spell giving away 38 runs. Basanta Regmi, Paras Khadka and Raj Kumar Pradhan claimed a scalp each. Som Pal Kami turned to be the most expensive bowler of Nepal conceding 78 runs in his 8.2 over spell.