Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, May 8:

Nepal took a comfortbale lead of 168 runs against the United Arab Emirates on the second day of the ICC Intercontinental Cup and the ACC Fast Track Countries’ Tournament here at TU Stadium today.

At the close of the second day, Nepal were 45/2 with Kanishka Chaugain, who scored 47 in the first innings, was on 21 and Shakti Prasad Gauchan, who made a commanding

68 in the first innings, was on four. Earlier UAE were dismissed for 164 in their first innings.

Nepal lost to quick wickets in the second innings at the hands of pacer Ahmed Nadeem. Opener Paresh Lohani was caught by Arsad Ali for four, while Dipendra Chaudhary was trapped leg before for nine.

Nepal declared their first innings at 287/7. Resuming at the overnight score

of 246/5, Nepal lost two wickets after adding 41 runs. Sharad Vesawkar added 16 runs to his overnight score of 73 before being caught by Asghar Ali off Ahmed Nadeem. Vesawkar hit six fours in his 140-ball innings.

Skipper Binod Das scored 17 off 32 balls, while wicketkeeper Manoj Baisya was yet to open his accounts before Binod Das declared the innings soon after Vesawkar was dismissed. For UAE, Zahid Sha returned with best figures of 3-72, while Ahmed Nadeem took 2-47. Usman Salim and Rizwan Latif shared one wicket each.

In reply, the visitors were packed off for 164 runs in 81.2 overs. Pacer Mehboob Alam dismissed opener Ryan Chadda for a duck in the third ball of the innings, while Dhirendra Chand made it 42/3 when he bowled Asghar Ali for 15.

The other opener Arsad Ali carried the bat and remained unbeaten on 81 in his marathon innings of 280 balls hitting six fours.

Left arm spinner Raju Basnet returned with best figures of 3-27 off 17 overs, while other left armer Shakti Gauchan snatched 2-18 off 14 overs. Pacers Alam, Das, and Chand and off-spinner Raj Kumar Pradhan shared one wicket each.

At the end of the day, Nepal earned 11 points, and the UAE got 7.5 points.