KATHMANDU: Himanchal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) registered a 24-run victory against Nepal national team in their third practice match at the Dharamshala cricket grounds on Tuesday.

Nepal’s coach Pubudu Dassanayake brought in Avinash Karn, Rajesh Pulami and Siddhant Lohani in the match in place of Sagar Pun, Pradeep Airee and Jitendra Mukhiya. Batting first after winning the toss, HPCA scored 136-7 in 20 overs and restricted Nepal for 112-7. Nepal are 2-1 up in the four-match series.

The hosts made a bad start losing opener Raghav Dhawan (naught) in the second over. But another opener Amit Thakur and Abhimanyu Rana added 36 runs for the second wicket. After Karn sent Thakur (23) back to the pavilion, Rana and Sumeet Verma added 25 runs for the third wicket to take the total to 66-2. Rana made 26 off 30 balls with a four and six before being caught by Pulami off Lohani. Verma struck two sixes in his 12-ball 20 before being run out by skipper Paras Khadka.

Amit Kumar (15), Nakul Raj (16) and Parween Thakur (10) made significant contributions with the bat for the local side. Karan KC claimed 3-15 in his four overs, while Lohani grabbed two wickets and Avinash Karn took a wicket.

In reply, Nepal — who promoted vice-captain Gyanendra Malla to open with Subash Khakurel — made a cautious start scoring 32 runs in seven overs before Malla lost his wicket for 12 runs. Nepali batsmen failed to build partnerships as they slumped to 67-5 from 32-1. Sharad Vesawkar and Pulami tried to rebuild the innings and shared 34 runs for the sixth wicket to give some hope to the Nepali camp.

But Pulami (seven) fell in the first ball of the 19th over when Nepal required 36 runs off 12 balls and the visitors could add run-a-ball 11. Vesawkar remained unbeaten on 36 off 21 balls hitting four boundaries and two sixes. Raghav Dhawan claimed 3-30 in four overs, while Kunwar Abhinay, Shersht Nirmohi, Ankush Sharma and Rahul Singh took a wicket each for HPCA. Nepali team is in India to prepare for ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers.