Skipper Paras Khadka’s brilliant innings helped Nepal to seal a 19-run victory over Malaysia in the ACC T20 Cup on Saturday and strengthen semifinal chances.
As Nepal and Malaysia are to face relatively minnows of the tournament in their last group-stage matches and Nepal has a good net run rate in the tournament, Saturday’s match was considered a virtual quarterfinal.
Malaysia elected to field first at the TU Cricket Ground but Nepali skipper Khadka’s valiant knocks of 87 runs off 54 balls helped Nepal to reach 163/8 in 20 overs. In reply, Malaysia reached only 144/9 though Shafiq Sharif tried to boost Malaysian hopes by scoring 53 runs off 38 balls.
Nepal failed to have good start as opener Pradeep Airee was duck out in the very first over and Vice-captain Gyanendra Malla added only two runs before Nazril Rahman’s inswinger as well as slower delivery deceived him. Nepal was at 16/2 by 2.1 overs but skipper Khadka not only anchored Nepali innings but also speed up. Opener Subash Khakurel (25 runs off 23 balls) and Khadka put up a 48-run partnership for third wicket. Khadka, then put up a 49-run fourth wicket partnership with Binod Bhandari. Bhandari scored 20 runs off 16 balls including two boundaries and a six.
Khadka struck 11 boundaries and three sixes before Ahmed Faiz caught him at long off in a Hassan Ghulam’s delivery. Malaysian skipper Suhan Kumar had a chance to caught Khadka when he was at 79 runs but Kumar at the mid-off region could not reach the ball despite valiant dive. Khadka reached the half-century hitting a four with a skillful cut to third man in the fifth ball of 12th over bowled by Shahrulnizam Yusof. He faced 34 balls to reach half-century mark.
Paras Khadka plays a shot
It was fourth T20 half-century for Khadka. Earlier, Khadka had scored half-centuries against Hong Kong (68), Bermuda (unbeaten 65) and Papua New Guinea (62) during the ICC World T20 Qualifiers in 2012.
Khadka’s 87-run knock is the all time second highest individual score by Nepali batsman in T20 at the international level. Earlier Mehboob Alam had scored 88 runs against Saudi Arabia during the ACC T20 Cup in 2011.
Prithu Baskota scored seven runs off eight balls while Shakti Gauchan remained unbeaten with six runs off four balls.
Malaysian bowler Nazril Rahman, Khizar Hayat Durrani, Shahrulnizam Yusof and Hassan Ghulam claimed two wickets each.
Defending the 164-run target, Nepali bowlers picked wickets in regular interval to limit Malaysia 19 runs short of the target. Basant Regmi bowled Faizal Abu Hassan (6 runs) in the second over, when Malaysia was at 20/0. Sanjam Regmi caught Suharril Fetri (6 runs) at long-on boundary off Prithu Baskota in the fourth over. Malaysian opener Hammad Ullah Khan (33 runs off 18 balls) was also caught by Gyanendra Malla at deep mid-wicket off Banskota as Malaysian third wicket in the second ball of the sixth over.
To add misery to Malaysia, its captain Suhan Kumar was run out in a bizarre fashion for only one run. Ahmed Faiz didn’t come out of his crease despite Kumar completed the run. Kumar is considered as the most destructive Malaysian batsman. Faiz also got out in the first ball of 11th over adding 19 runs off 20 balls. Faiz was cut by Basant Regmi at long-on off Shakti Gauchan.
For Malaysia, the 31-run eighth wicket partnership between Shafiq Sharif and Hassan Ghulam (10 runs off seven balls) was the highest. Ghulam was caught by Basant Regmi at long-off boundary off pacer Chandra Sawad in 18.3 overs. A ball earlier, Baskotata had dropped Ghulam at long-on boundary.
Sharif tried to anchor Malaysian innings at first and then tried to speed it up hitting four boundaries and two sixes during his innings of unbeaten 53 off 38 balls but he was hapless as wickets kept on falling on the other end.
Baskota and Sanjam Regmi claimed two wickets each while Sawad, Basant Regmi and Gauchan took a wicket apiece.
Nepali captain Khadka, who was also involved in two run-out incidents, was adjudged man-of-the-match. Khadka was the Nepali fielder to trap run-out to Malaysian captain Kumar and Durrani (nine runs).
“I am happy to contribute for the team. We were committed not to let our labor of last three months go in vain and it was a team performance more than an individual effort,” said Khadka.
Paras Khadka waves bat after scoring half-century against Malaysia.
Khadka received Rs 60,000 for his performance on Saturday. He has received Rs 50,000 from Global Model Visa Consultancy, which had promised to provide the sum to any Nepali batsman to score more than 75 runs in a match. Likewise, he received Rs 10,000 for being man-of-the-match from the venue management committee.
“Paras (Khadka) is the best captain of the tournament and he played a good innings today (Saturday),” said Malaysian coach Roy Luke Dias, who was the coach of Nepal team for 10 years before Pubudu Dassanayake. “The innings played by Paras changed the game while the run-out incident of Suhan Kumar turned out to be unfortunate for my side,” added Dias.
Meanwhile, Nepali team coach Dassanayake said that his side put up a good performance as per his plans. “I am not surprised with the outcome that we got today. Malaysian didn’t give up until the last moment but our players put up a expected performance to beat them,” said Dassanayake.
With the win, Nepal strengthened its chance to qualify for the semifinal as it has four points from three matches. Hong Kong, which remained undefeated in all the four matches of the group stage, is at the top of the points table with eight points. Malaysia is on the third place with two points off three matches and superior net run rate than the Maldives, which also has two points from three matches.
Nepal is to take on Singapore, which is at the bottom, in its last group-stage match on Sunday while Malaysia is to face the Maldives. If Nepal wins Sunday’s match, Nepal will reach last four despite any result in between Malaysia and the Maldives. Even if Nepal loses, net run rate will come in count decide Nepal’s fate.
Top two teams of the tournament, except the UAE and Afghanistan, will progress to the ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2013. The UAE has already secured place in the qualifiers as the host and Afghanistan has its berth guaranteed as a nation with ODI-status.