Man-of-the-match awardee Prithu Baskota grabbed three wickets in his last over to restrict Kuwait to 125, one run short of the victory target. Kuwait was in need of 18 runs from the last over with three wickets in hand. [break]
Baskota was hit for a six in the first ball of the last over and he bowled a wide in the second ball. He grabbed a wicket in the third ball despite bowling it wide. Baskota´s next ball was also a wide but he took a wicket in his second legal delivery of the over. Kuwait was in need of nine runs off four balls.
Baskota conceded single in the third ball. His fourth ball was hit to a six by Azmatullah Nazeer. However, Baskota overcame his nervousness and wicketkeeper Subash Khakurel stumped Nazeer in the penultimate ball of the over.
Despite the win, Nepal´s semifinal hope is still in question as Hong Kong defeated UAE in its third league match. Nepal will qualify for the semifinal if it beats Saudi Arabia and Kuwait beats Hong Kong on Wednesday.
“Hats off to Prithu (Baskota). At that point of time, any bowler can get nervous but Prithu kept his cool to win the match for us,” said Skipper Paras Khadka for the last over bowling performance.
“Baskota had given only 1 run in his earlier over and I introduced him to bowl the final over,” he added.
Earlier, Nepal were invited to bat first as Kuwait won the toss. Nepal scored a modest total of 126 runs for the fall of six wickets.
Opener Subash Khakurel´s brilliant 40 runs off 32 balls gave Nepal a good start. Khakurel struck eight boundaries, who shared 49-run opening partnership with Anil Mandal (nine runs off 20 balls), in course of building Nepal´s innings.
Gyanendra Malla scored 16 runs off 22 balls while Prithu Baskota made 16 runs with the strike rate of 100. Basanta Regmi was not out with 10 runs while Mehboob Alam scored 14 runs off eight balls with a huge six. Abdullah Akhunzada and Mohammed Asghar grabbed two wickets apiece for Kuwait.
Opener Yasar Idrees scored 21 runs off 21 balls in chasing Nepal´s 126 run. Saud Qanar´s 39 runs off 42 balls helped Kuwait fight back for the run chase. Qanar´s 39 runs included three boundaries and a huge six. Prithu Baskota claimed three wickets while skipper Paras Khadka and Basanta Regmi grabbed took two wickets each.
Skipper Khadka said that the match against Kuwait is the best example of T20 match. “We had a fantastic start but we could not take it to a good total,” said Khadka.
Nepali batsman Binod Bhandari had wasted three balls in the last over trying to play scoop shots despite of accelerating innings with natural shots. Nepali players had lost wickets playing same kind of shots in earlier matches.
“We are disturbing rhythm of bowlers by attempting those shots though we are unable to execute them for runs,” said skipper Khadka. “I hope we will execute them in future. Without attempting these T20 shots, we can´t hope of winning T20 matches,” he added.
Meanwhile, Nepal coach Pubudu Dassanayake said that it was a lucky win. “Prithu´s (Baskota´s) last over was a gamble but we won the match. T20 is a different type of the game so it can go anywhere,” said Dassanayake. “We had good start but we could not continue the scoring in the later part of the innings,” he added.
With the win, Nepal has four points in its account from three matches and third position in the points table of group ´B´. Kuwait has two points form three matches and the fourth position while Saudi Arabia is on the bottom of the table losing all three matches.
However, Hong Kong and the UAE has equal four points to Nepal but superior net run rates to remain on the top and the second place of the points table.
Hong Kong beats UAE
Hong Kong defeated the UAE by four wickets with 12 balls remaining at the TU Cricket Ground in a crucial match to climb to the top of the table.
The UAE, electing to bat first, put up 144/4 in 20 overs as Amjad Ali scored 79 runs off 65 balls. He struck six boundaries and five sixes. Khurram Khan added 26 runs off 17 balls.
In reply, Irfan Ahmed scored 70 runs off 42 balls to guide Hong Kong to the victory in 18 overs losing six wickets. His opening partner Babar Hayat supported him well scoring 29 runs off 21 balls. The UAE bowler Ahmed Raza took three Hong Kong wickets but could not stop his team from being a losing side.
Irfan Ahmed, who also took one wicket, was adjudged man-of-the-match.
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