Lamichhane takes third fifer, Sheikh hits fastest 50 for the home team
KATHMANDU, MARCH 13
Nepal thrashed Papua New Guinea by nine wickets in the One Day International Tri-series match under the ICC Cricket World Cup League-II here at the TU Stadium today.
Nepal invited PNG to take the strike and bowled them out for a paltry 95 runs in 32 overs riding on a five-wicket haul from Sandeep Lamichhane. Aasif Sheikh then scored his eighth half-century as the home team raced to 100-1 in just 7.4 overs for their record victory in terms of wicket.
With their 10th win in 11 matches since Indian coach Monty Desai took over the helm of the national team in January, Nepal accumulated 38 points from 35 matches and they remained one win away from the top three spot which will guarantee a berth in the ICC Cricket World Cup Global Qualifiers.
Nepal will face the United Arab Emirates in the last match of the League-II series on Thursday and a win will send them to Global Qualifiers as the third team behind champions Scotland and second-placed Oman. Nepal retained their ODI status for the next four years with a record 177-run victory over the UAE on Sunday.
After the completion of the four-year cycle of the Leauge-II, top three teams will progress to the Global Qualifiers with top five sides retaining their ODI status. The bottom four teams will get a second chance as they compete with top two teams of the Challenge League in the World Cup Qualifier Playoff.
Top two sides in the Play-off will make it to the Global Qualifiers, which will send two teams to the World Cup to be held in India later this year.
On Monday, PNG batsmen struggled to find the answers of Nepal's bowling attack and they never threatened throughout the match. Lalit Rajbanshi made the breakthrough in the fourth over after he bowled Kiplin Doriga (two) with just five runs on the board. Sompal Kami then dismissed Hiri Hiri (14) to reduce the PNG to 17-2 in the seventh over.
Sese Bau and skipper Assad Vala tried to build the PNG innings and they shared a 37-run partnership for the third wicket before Lamichhane removed both of them to put the opponents under pressure. Vala top scored for PNG with 20 runs, while Bau was the next best with 18.
Rajbanshi, Lamichhane and Kushal Malla then combined to take the remaining six wickets in the space of 25 runs. Lamichhane was the pick of the Nepali bowlers taking 5-25 for his third five-wicket haul in ODIs. He took the ODI career tally to 98 wickets and he can achieve the feat of becoming the fastest bowler to bag 100 wickets with two wickets against the UAE on Thursday. Rajbanshi (2-13) and Malla (2- 6) shared four wickets between them, while Kami grabbed one wicket.
In reply, the home team made a flying start with openers Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh putting up 51 runs in just 3.3 overs, reaching Nepal's fastest 50- run mark in ODIs. In a bid to play a big shot, Bhurtel got trapped leg before the wicket at the hands of Chad Soper but not before hitting four boundaries and two sixes in his quick fire 33 off 14 balls.
Sheikh and Kushal Malla then took the team home with a 49-run partnership for the unbroken second wicket. Sheikh, who hit the winning six off Soper, belted the fastest half-century for Nepal in ODIs. Sheikh, who struck eight boundaries and three sixes in his 21-ball 53 not out, beat the previous best of 38-ball half-century scored by Sompal Kami against the Netherlands in 2018. Malla remained unbeaten on 12 off 13 balls that included one each four and six.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 14, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
