Nepal began its Bangladesh campaign with a five-wicket defeat at the hands of topmost associate team Ireland in its first official warm up match of the ICC World T20 at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium in Fatullah, Dhaka on Wednesday.
Nepal conceded 18 runs in the 18th over, as Ireland batsman Gary Wilson hit two sixes off spinner Shakti Gauchan to give Irish team the victory. Before that, Nepal remained competitive, despite scoring 137 in its innings.
“I am satisfied with the result and the team’s overall performance,” Nepal coach Pubudu Dassanayake said. “We gave away many runs in the last two overs.”
Put to bat first after losing the toss, Nepal posted 137 runs for seven. Ireland achieved the target losing five wickets with five balls to spare.
Gyanendra Malla contributed 47 off 35 in Nepal’s inning. Skipper Paras Khadka contributed 31 off 27, the second highest score.
Gyanendra and Paras gave some momentum to Nepali innings after dismissal of openers Subash Khakurel (10) and Sagar Pun (6) in quick succession with score at 16. The duo shared 55-run stand for the third wicket before the skipper was out in 11.5 overs. He hit three boundaries and a six before being caught by George Dockrell off his own bowling.
Gyanendra also hit three boundaries and a six and was bowled in the first ball of 18th over. He was caught and bowled by Kevin O’Brien. Besides them, Naresh Budayair (14) and Subash (10) reached double digit. Avinash Karn (4), Shakti Gauchan (5) remained unbeaten while Binod Bhandari scored 5 and Sharad Vesawkar scored 9.
Kevin O’Brien, Andrew McBrine and Gary Wilson shared two wickets each for Ireland and Craig Young got one.
In the Ireland’s run chase, skipper William Porterfield scored the highest 38 off 35 that included three boundaries. William shared 30-run stand with the other opener Paul numberswiki.com
Stirling (19). Jeetendra Mukhiya gave the breakthrough to Nepal claiming two successive wickets of Stirling and Ed Joyce (0).
Nepal cricketer Jitendra Mukhiya (L) celebrates after the dismissal of Ireland cricketer Paul Stirling during the ICC Twenty20 World Cup warm up cricket match between Ireland and the Nepal at the Khan Shaheb Osman Ali Stadium in Fatullah, on the outskirts of Dhaka on March 12, 2014.
Photo courtesy: ICC
Middle order Andrew Poynter (28), Gary Wilson (31) and Stuart Thompson (19*) were the other batsmen for Ireland to guide the team towards victory.
This was the first encounter between the two teams. Nepal is scheduled to play against UAE during their second practice match at the same venue on Friday before it kick starts its World T20 campaign playing against Hong Kong on Sunday. This is the first time Nepal is playing in a tournament at this level.
Nepal is pitted with Hong Kong, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in group A of the qualifiers while group B consists of Ireland, Zimbabwe, UAE and the Netherlands. Top two teams from either group after the round robin league will make to next round of the event.
Earlier Nepal played warm up matches against the Netherlands and UAE in UAE to prepare for the event. Nepal suffered 44-run defeat at the hands Dutch team and beat UAE by 31-runs.
Meanwhile, team Nepal is planning to bring Anil Mandal in place of injured Avinash Karn for the tournament.