KATHMANDU, APRIL 17

The Nepali national men's cricket team has registered a comfortable nine-wicket victory over visiting Netherlands in the first match of the Tri-Nation Series on Saturday.

Batting first, the Netherlands had posted a total of 136 runs at the expense of four wickets in 20 overs which was comfortably surpassed by the Nepali team owing to a record-making half-century innings from opening pair Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh.

The debutant openers of Nepal in the international arena Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh etched half centuriues to their names by smashing 62 (off 46 deliveries) and 54 runs (off 38 deliveries) respectively while also becoming the opening pair with the highest run stand.

In the match contested at the Kirtipur Stadium today, star leggie Sandeep Lamichhane scalped two Dutch wickets and only provided 22 runs in his four overs while both Sompal Kami and Shahab Alam took one wicket each.

Bas de Leede, the Dutch batsman contributed the most runs for their team by making 41 off 49 deliveries.

Nepal is scheduled to encounter Malaysia on Monday afternoon in the Kirtipur Cricket Stadium.

Nepal, the Netherlands, and Malaysia are competing in the ongoing T20 Tri-Nation Series hosted by Nepal.