Heavy rains halted the match in the 13th over at the Aditya Global Sports Ground when Nepal was struggling at 118/5 while chasing a mammoth target of 305 runs.[break]
South Africa was announced the winner as it had easily managed to score 211 runs without losing a wicket by the 13th over.
Nepal´s coach Ganga Prasad Poudel said that the rain disturbed the game as the boys slipped while running between the wickets. "If the weather had been good we could have changed the direction of the game."
South Africa won the toss and opted to bat first and posted 304 runs at the loss of two wickets. Opener Desigan Pillay and Bidla punished Nepali bowlers as they both completed a century each. Pially scored 104 runs before he was sent back to the pavilion by Ram Prasad Poudel. The only other wicket that Nepal managed to take was that of Johan Pillay, who became the victim of Bikram Bahadur Rana, on zero run. Bidla was unbeaten with 124 runs and Jarmain Collins was unbeaten with 26 runs.
Nepal continued its poor batting as it continued to lose wickets in regular interval and the rain also had affected the performance of the players. Opener Shankar Regmi was run out with 14 runs off 11 balls. Bikram Rana scored 28 runs off 14 balls before being sent back to the pavilion by Veron, who also took the wicket of Sunil Subedi (2). The other Nepali batsmen were sent back to the pavilion as they were short of the crease. Amar Oli (11) and skipper Jay Sagar Giri (3) were also run out.
Surya Bhattarai and Khimananda Gaire were unbeaten with 18 runs and 5 runs respectively.
Nepali coach Paudel added that the rain hampered the game and the players faced difficulty running between the wickets on the wet ground. "We could have turned the game in our favor if the match was played in full," said the coach.
Coach Poudel praised the bowling of his side as they gave less extras than during the match against Sri Lanka. Nepal will take rest on Wednesday and play its must-win match against West Indies Thursday at the same venue.
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