Nepal beat Malaysia by 7 wickets in Asia Finals Qualifier

KATHMANDU: Nepal defeated Malaysia by seven wickets in their second match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Asia Region Finals Qualifier played at the Indian Association Ground in Singapore, on Wednesday.

After winning the toss, skipper Gyanendra Malla elected to field first in the match that was limited to nine overs only due to rain.

Malaysian batting order was rattled from the start after it lost two wickets to Sompal Kami in the first over, and was limited to a meagre total of 83 runs losing seven wickets in all nine overs. Sayed Aziz (30) and Virandeep Singh (21) were the only batsmen that added double-digit score for the team.

Sompal Kami was the pick of the Nepali bowler as he demolished the Malaysian batting order taking three important wickets of Anwar Arudin, Shafiq Sharif and Aminuddin Ramly. Basanta Regmi continued the momentum sending two more back to the pavilion while Sandeep Lamichanne and Karan KC added a wicket each to their names.

In reply, Nepal successfully chased the target in eight overs losing only three wickets. Nepal’s opening batsmen Gyanendra Malla and Pradeep Singh Airee built a 66-run partnership before skipper Malla was caught by Aminuddin Ramly off Muhamad Syahat in the fifth over. Skipper Malla contributed decisive 51 runs in just 21 balls hitting a total of eight boundaries — five 4’s and three 6’s — becoming Player-of-the-match.

Muhamad Syahadat claimed all three wickets for Malaysia.

With this victory, Nepal have collected two valuable points from two matches, with them losing their first match to Qatar by four wickets.

Nepal will take on Kuwait in their third match of the tournament at the same stadium on Saturday, July 27.