KATHMANDU, Sept 3: Nepal national cricket team has kept its qualification hopes alive by defeating Singapore by four wickets in the ongoing ACC (Asian Cricket Council) Asia Cup Qualifiers in Bangi, Malaysia, on Sunday.

In its second consecutive win of the campaign, Lalit Nath Rajbanshi and Sandeep Lamichhane brilliantly started the day, pocketing three wickets each. They were supported by Anil Kumar Sah and Dipendra Singh Airee with 43 and 33 runs, respectively. 

Earlier, Singapore won the toss, elected to bat first and presented a target of 152 runs losing all its wickets within 42 overs. In reply, Nepal chased the target losing six wickets in 28.1 overs. 

Captain and wicketkeeper Chetan Suryawanshi hit the highest 60 runs off 88 deliveries for Singapore that included a six and eight fours. He was supported by Anish Paraam, who scored 31 runs off 67 balls including two boundaries, before being run out by Airee. 

Karthikeyan Subramanian was the last of the three double-digit run getters for the losing team, who hit 20 runs off 37 balls with two boundaries, before being bowled out by Basant Regmi. 

Singapore did not start the game brightly as opener Arjun Mutreja was out for a duck in the third ball of the first over. The other opener Rohan Rangarajan and Aritra Dutta scored eight runs each.

Also, Rezza Gaznavi scored five runs for Singapore, while Sharan Swaminathan got unbeaten four runs to the team’s total before Selladore Vijayakumar and Anantha Krishna were sent back to the pavilion on one run each by Nepal’s teen sensation Lamichhane. Manpreet Singh also fell prey to Lamichhane as he was out for a duck. 

Despite Lamichhane picking up the same number of wickets as Rajbanshi, the latter had a better economy rate of 3 as he pocketed three wickets giving away 27 runs in nine overs including a maiden over. Lamichhane gave away 35 runs in ten overs with an economy of 3.50. 

Similarly, Sompal Kami continued his impressive bowling performance nicking two wickets giving away 29 runs in seven overs including a maiden one, while Regmi nicked a wicket for Nepal.

In reply, Nepal’s opener Sah scored the highest 43 runs off 32 balls comprising two sixes and five boundaries. He was supported by Airee who hit 33 runs off 34 balls including a six and three fours. 

Likewise, Nepal vice captain Gyanendra Malla scored 29 runs off 35 deliveries with two sixes and a boundary. 

Nepal did not have a good start to its innings as Subhash Khakurel scored 14 runs off 38 balls with a four, while Sagar Pun contributed with 14 runs off 15 balls which included two fours. Captain Paras Khadka struggled with his bat yet again as he scored 11 runs off 11 balls including a four before he was bowled out by Krishna.  Aarif Sheikh was not out on four runs, while Kami faced three balls without scoring a run in the latter stages of the match. 

Krishna and Vijayakumar picked up two wickets each for the losing team, while Subramanian and Swaminathan pocketed a wicket each. 

Rajbanshi was named the player of the match. 

Other matches 
In the other matches of the day, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) defeated Malaysia, while Oman and Hong Kong shared a point each. 

The UAE skipper Rohan Mustafa played a captain’s inning as he stayed unbeaten hitting 38 runs off 26 balls including a six and six boundaries, while he was supported by unbeaten Rameez Shahzad who scored 26 runs off 13 balls with two sixes and two fours. Likewise, Chirag Suri added 22 runs off 10 balls which included a six and four fours. 

Ahmez Raza was the standout bowler for the UAE as he took four wickets giving away 28 runs in 10 overs with two maiden overs, while Mohammad Naveed, Mustafa and Amir Hayat claimed two wickets each. 

Earlier, Malaysia won the toss, elected to bat first and presented a target of 93 runs losing all its wickets in 31.3 overs. In reply, the UAE required just 8.1 overs to chase the target losing two wickets.

The other match between Oman and Hong Kong was washed out due to rain in which Oman had presented a target of 184 runs losing all its wickets in the allotted 50 overs. In reply, Hong Kong was 25/0 at the end of the fifth over before rain cancelled the match. 

Mohammad Nadeem and Fayyaz Butt hit 54 and 50 runs respectively for Oman.

Qualification scenario 
Nepal’s qualification chances to qualifier final still relies upon the results of other matches in the league. 

Nepal has to win its last remaining match against Hong Kong on Tuesday and beat both Hong Kong’s and the UAE’s net run rate of 1.57 and 1.58 respectively. 

Not only that, Nepal has to hope for Oman’s win against the UAE to have any chances of getting through. And, if the UAE defeats Oman, Nepal will directly fail to qualify as both the UAE and Oman will qualify. 

Fixtures 
Nepal will now play its last match against Hong Kong, while Oman and the UAE will take on each other, to potentially seal the final places. In the other match to be played on Tuesday, Malaysia will play against Singapore in a match where both the teams have no chance of final qualification.

 
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