KATHMANDU, Oct 7: Nepal national cricket team captain Paras Khadka completed a half-century complemented by Sandeep Lamichhane’s five-wicket-haul as Nepal won the match against home team Malaysia by eight wickets in the ICC World T20 Asia Region Qualifier B in Bayuemas Oval, Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.
Khadka stayed unbeaten at 52 runs after restricting Mamysia for 100 runs in 19.3 overs. He smashed five boundaries and two sixes during his 37-ball innings. The skipper shared an unbeaten partnership of 69 runs with vice-captain Gyanendra Malla who made 27 not out runs including two boundaries and a six in a dominant display of batting by both.
Nepal lost the wickets of Anil Kumar Sah and Binod Bhandari earlier in the innings. Sah replaced Pradeep Airee in the opening slot but failed to impress as he was dismissed for a run from six deliveries.
Malaysia’s Syed Aziz claimed his wicket caught by wicket-keeper Shafiq Sharif. Pavandeep Singh was the only other wicket-taker in the innings for Malaysia as he outfoxed Binod Bhandari for 12 runs from as many deliveries. He was caught by Aziz off a top edged shot. Nepal completed the chase in 12.4 overs boosting the net run rate.
Nepal crush Malaysia in rain-curtailed match
Earlier, Malaysia won the toss and elected to bat first in the Bayuemas Oval. Nepal made two changes in the playing XI, dropping Pradeep Airee and Lalit Bhandari for Sharad Vesawkar and Sompal Kami.
Malaysia made a decent start in the innings with 75 runs for the loss the two wickets at the end of 11 overs. Both the wickets of batsmen Aziz and Suhan Alagaratnam were taken by Lamichhane. However, the re-introduction of Sompal Kami in the 12th over turned the tides in Nepal's favor as he clean-bowled Malaysia skipper Ahmed Faiz and Muhamad Syahadat in consecutive deliveries as score soon turned to 75 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 11.2 overs.
A barrage of wickets followed as Malaysia suffered a collapse bundling out for 100 runs in the last over. The home team lost last 8 wickets for 25 runs. Lamichhane trounced the Malaysian batsmen with his leg-spin including the wickets of Sharif who top-scored for the home team opening the batting. Sharif missed his half-century by a run which included seven boundaries and two sixes.
Lamichhane completed his first five-wicket-haul for Nepal in T20 format. He won his second consecutive player-of-the-match award after lifting the same against Myanmar in the tournament opener on Wednesday. Kami picked up three wickets, all clean-bowled whereas Khadka chipped in with a wicket to wrap up the Malaysia innings.
In other matches of the day, Singapore walloped China by 10 wickets after bundling them out for 26 runs. Similarly, Thailand defeated Bhutan by eight wickets chasing the target of 83 runs in 13.3 overs. Thailand leads the points table with five points after three matches followed by Singapore and Nepal on second and third places winning its respective two matches each.
Nepal will face Thailand on Sunday in its third match of the qualifier.
BRIEF SCORES
ICC World Twenty20 Asia Region Qualifier B
7th Match, in Kuala Lumpur, Oct 6 2018
Malaysia 100 all out (19.3 Ov)
Sharif 49, Lamichhane 20/5, Kami 16/3
Nepal 101/2 (12.4/20 Ov, target 101)
Khadka 52*, Malla 27*, Bhandari 12
Nepal won by 8 wickets
PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Sandeep Lamichhane
