SHARJAH: Nepal struggled to beat Qatar despite bowling out the opponents for below 100 runs in the ACC Twenty20 Cup here at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium today.

Nepal, who bowled out Qatar for 96 in 19 overs, acquired the total for the loss of four wickets in 18 overs. Gyanendra Malla remained unbeaten on 39, while opener Dipendra Chaudhary scored 28. Nepal had a slow start with openers Dipendra and Mehboob Alam scoring just one run in the first over. Alam lost his wicket in the second over without scoring and Paresh Lohani returned to the pavilion after scoring eight runs, leaving Nepal at 26-2.

Nepal managed to score 30 runs in the six-over power play. Dipendra and Gyanendra shared a 52-run partnership —the first half century partnership by the Nepali batsmen in the tournament — and took the total to 78 before Dipendra was bowled out in the 16th over. Skipper Paras Khadka hit a brilliant four but fell shortly afterwards when he skied the ball and was caught at extra cover.

The run rate moved up to six runs per over when Nepal needed 30 off the last five overs and they lost two more wickets before Basanta Regmi hit a four to reach the victory target. Malla hit two fours in his 38-ball 39, while Dipendra scored 43-ball28. Basanta remained not out on five.

Earlier, the bowlers again did exceptionally well to restrict Qatar to 96. The wickets started tumbling from the first over off Binod Das with a run out and the Qatari batsmen struggled to middle the slow bowlers. Das reduced Qatar to 10-2 when he bowled Umer Taj (eight) in the third over.

Paras introduced spin after seven overs and the slow bowlers did the rest. Qatar were 34-2 after seven overs. Basanta trapped T Sajjad (19) leg before to end the 38-run stand between him and I Husain, who top scored with 32 off 39 balls. Qatar lost their last six wickets for 29 runs.

Shakti took two wickets in the 15th over. He first bowled Qatar's top scorer Hussain with the first ball and had SA Qureshi caught by Alam two balls later. The Qatari innings was wrapped up when Sanjam Regmi bowled SA Hussain (six) in the last ball of the 19th over. Basanta (3-11) and Shakti (3-19) were declared the men-of-the-match. Sanjam returned with 2-25, while Das took 1-13. Alam went wicketless in his three-over spell.

Nepal coach Roy Luke Dias was not happy with the way the batsmen struggled on the field. "It was not a convincing win despite having a low total to chase," he said. "All the experienced players got out with the irresponsible shots," he added.

Skipper Paras also agreed with the fact that the batsmen were struggling. "We lacked this kind of performance two days ago. We could have won against Kuwait if the team had performed only half the percentage of how they played today," he said. "We are here to play cricket and we will have to play for pride. We will go with the full strength against Bahrain and hope for a better show," he added.

Coach Dias hinted at playing the same team against Bahrain on Saturday. "I can not play Amrit as the wickets here does not suit the pace," he added. The organisers rescheduled all Friday's matches to Saturday due of Eid.