Bimal, who is also a member of the national team, scored two goals in the first half and added one in the second half to guide Nepal to a convincing win over Bhutan in front of more than three thousand home crowd, while Sonam Tobgay scored a consolation goal for Bhatan in the Group A opener.
Bimal gave Nepal an early advantage in the 10th minute as he scored after beating three defenders of Bhutan.
The joy was short-lived though as Bhutan leveled the score within one minute with Sonam's goal. Sonam beat goalkeeper Sojit Gurung taking advantage of mistakes committed by Nepali defenders.
Bimal was back in the spotlight once again as his shot from nearly 25 yards gave Nepal a 2-1 lead in the 30th minute.
Nepal had numbers of chances to score in the first half but Bimal missed good chances in the ninth, 15th and 23rd minutes, while Ananta Tamang's shot was saved by Bhutan goalie Tobgay.
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Bhutan also missed a perfect chance to take the lead in the fifth minute as Sonam's shot was denied by Nepali goalkeeper Sojit.
Nepal created numbers of chances in the second half as well but added only one goal.
Bimal completed his hat-trick in the 62nd minute scoring from close range utilizing Tej Tamang's pass from the center.
However, Bimal couldn't add another one when he failed to convert a spot kick in the 73rd minute that he earned after Bhutan defender pulled Bishwas Shrestha inside the penalty area.
Bimal also missed numbers of chances in one-on-one situations in the second half.
Despite the win, Nepal coach Bal Gopal Maharjan said that his side did not match the aspirations as they had prepared.
"The whole team did not perform according to the way we had prepared and I am not satisfied with the performance," said coach Maharjan, who added that some of his players played individual games. "We conceded the goal due to mistakes of defenders and goalkeeper," he said during the post-match conference.
"Our team did not play as it had played against the national team and other A division clubs in friendly matches," added Maharjan, who defended Bimal's approach of scoring goals himself time and again.
"Bimal did the right thing by attempting to score goals as other players were not there to receive pass from him," said Maharjan.
His counterpart Chokey Nima praised Nepali team's performance and said that his players were not as quick as Nepali forwards.
"Nepal played good and composed game. Our defenders were not as quick as Nepali forwards," he commented.
Meanwhile, Nepali team skipper Bimal, who rued missing the spot kick, said that his side Nepal will play better game against Bangladesh.
Nepal will meet Bangladesh in the second and last group-stage match on Monday. In Group B, the Maldives will play against Afghanistan on Friday.
Photos by: Bijay Gajmer
