Nepal is warming up in New Delhi, India for the upcoming Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Twenty20 Elite Cup in an invitation of Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA).
On Nov 15 Sunday, Nepal played two Twenty20 matches against DDCA XI and lost both but not without producing some good performances. Nepal lost the first match by 26 runs and second match by seven wickets.
Nepal won the toss of the first match and elected to field first. DDCA XI reached 164/5 in 20 overs. Ankur Jhulka scored 54 off 44 balls while Aditya Jain got 36 off 31, Joginder Singh 29 off 18 and Ranji player Yogesh Nagar got 18 off 24.
For Nepal, newly appointed captain Paras Khadka led from front taking two wickets for 23 runs while Binod Das and Basant Regmi each grabbed a wicket.
In reply, Gyanendra Malla scored a half-century to take Nepal to 138/4 in 20 overs. Apart from Gyanendra’s 51 off 42 balls, Paras remained unbeaten on 37 off 25 while Dipendra Chaudhary got 26 off 28 balls.
Paresh Lohani (1) and Mehboob Alam (12) went cheaply. For DDCA XI, Nagar, Darshan Kandiaya and Pakash Sikhra each took a wicket.
“The DDCA XI team was a strong team and we were praised for our good performance,” former captain Binod told Cricket Nepal in an email. The DDCA XI team consisted regular players of Delhi team.
However there were not much accolades for the second match as Nepal was restricted for 82/9 in 20 overs after electing to bat first. Apart from Paresh (26 runs of 50 balls) and Mehboob (17 off 18), not batsmen scored runs.
DDCA XI needed just 12.3 overs to win the match with Sawari Khan (41 runs off 35 deliveries) and Puneet Mehra (22 off 18) scoring good for the team.
Binod and Basant took a wicket each.
Nepal will play two more practice matches with the teams of DDCA before leaving to UAE for the event on November 20.