Winning the toss, Pakistan invited Nepal to bat first and restricted the team for 89/10 in 20 overs. Pakistan sealed the victory in just 4.1 overs without losing a wicket. Masod Jan and Gulab Khan guided the team to victory.[break]
Jan, who had scored unbeaten 264 runs earlier in the tournament, scored 53 runs off 16 balls.
Khan scored 28 runs off 9 balls to give Pakistan a thumping victory ahead of their semifinal match. Nepali bowlers bowled on line as they only gave nine runs as extras.
Earlier, Nepal had a good start as it did not lose any wickets until the end of five overs with 29 runs on board. Skipper Jay Sagar Giri was the first Nepali player to be removed from the crease. Giri (7) was caught in the ball of Jafar. Khima Nanda Gaire (6) was short to the crease in the very next ball.
Aneej Javed´s over was good for Pakistan as they grabbed two wickets in the over. Santosh Shapkota (0) was short to the crease while Ram Prasad Poudel was bold for duck. By the end of 10 overs, Nepal scored 50 runs for the loss of four wickets
Nepal lost another wicket in the first ball of 11th over. Sunil Subedii was short to the crease as he scored two runs. Lok Bahadur Thapa, who gave two boundaries for Nepal, was bowled by Mohammad Akram.
Nepal continued its poor performance of running between the wickets as the remaining wickets fell as run out. Amar Oli (8), Rajendra Prasad POudel (2), Padam Bahadur Badela (2) and Jeevan Tamang (0) were the Nepali batsmen short to the crease. Shankar Regmi was unbeaten on six runs.
Skipper Giri said that this was their first ever big tournament and thanked Pakistan Blind Cricket Association for teaching the game. “We are new in this game and we have learnt many things from the tournament,” said Giri, adding, “We will improve and try to win matches in the next tournament.”
(Ghimire contributes to Republica from Bangalore)
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