KATHMANDU, Sept 23: The Nepali national cricket team faced its second consecutive defeat in the ICC World Cup League-2 triangular one-day series, falling to Canada by five wickets.
This marks Nepal’s second consecutive loss against Canada, following a disappointing performance earlier in the series.
In their first match, Nepal suffered a heavy defeat, losing to Canada by 133 runs, and in the second match, they narrowly lost to Oman by just 1 wicket.
Chasing a target of 182 runs, the Canadian team reached their goal with the loss of only 5 wickets in 42 overs.
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Navneet Dhaliwal was the standout performer for Canada, scoring 87 runs off 113 balls, including 8 fours and 4 sixes.
Pargat Singh contributed significantly as well, making 64 runs with 7 fours and 2 sixes from 83 balls. Harsh Thaker and captain Nicholas Pooran finished the innings unbeaten on 13 and 11 runs, respectively.
For Nepal, Sandeep Lamichhane was the pick of the bowlers, claiming 2 wickets. Karan KC, Lalit Rajbanshi, and Gulsan Jha each took one wicket.
Winning the toss, Nepal opted to bat first but was bowled out for just 181 runs in 46.1 overs.
Sandeep Lamichhane top-scored for Nepal with 49 runs, striking 5 fours and 1 six off 48 balls, narrowly missing out on a half-century.
Nepal’s batting lineup struggled, collapsing to 7 for 87 at one point in 27.1 overs.
A brief recovery came from Sompal Kami and Sandeep Lamichhane, who added 55 runs for the eighth wicket.
Sompal was eventually dismissed for 21 runs.
The middle order crumbled under pressure, with Karan KC making only 24 runs before being caught out.
Openers Arjun Saud and Aarif Sheikh scored just 10 runs each, while the team found itself in dire straits at 36 runs for 5 wickets after 12 overs.
Other notable dismissals included Ashif Sheikh (2), Bhim Sarki (4), captain Rohit Poudel (4), and Anil Shah (1). Gulsan Jha managed to score 34 runs before being dismissed.
