Nepali women face defeat against UAE

Kathmandu, November 23

Nepal faced a five-run defeat agsinst the United Arab Emirates in the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifiers for Asia Region match at the Asian Institute of Technology Ground in Bangkok today.

Opting to bat first, UAE scored 79-7 in their allotted 20 overs before Nepal managed 74-9.

Following the defeat, Nepal accumulated two points from three matches and are fifth in the six-team competition. Thailand and Hong Kong are are at the top two positions with five points each. UAE (four) and Malaysia (two) are also ahead of Nepal, while China, who are yet to open accounts, are at the bottom.

Nepal lost the match after the batters could add only four runs when they needed 10 runs from last over with two wickets in hand.

Roma Thapa (three) hit two runs in the first ball of 20th over bowled by UAE’s Kavisha Egodage but she was run out by Roopa Nagrja adding a run in the second ball.

After that Ritu Kanoujiya, who top scored with an unbeaten 22 off 23 balls hitting two boundaries, scored a run in the third ball and and that brought Sangita Rai in the strike. But Rai failed to open her accounts in the last three balls of the innings.

Nepal had a disastrous start with the bat as they were reduced to 11-3 inside three overs.

Jyoti Pandey, who added 12 runs off 15 balls hitting a boundary, added 16 runs with Kajal Shrestha (eight) for the fourth wicket and tried to revive the innings.

But Pandey was dismissed by Ishni Managelage in the second ball of the sixth over with only 27 runs on the board.

Nepal then lost four more wickets adding 28 runs and were 55-8 inside 17th over. However, Kanoujiya added 18 runs with Roma Thapa for the ninth wicket but failed to avert the defeat.

UAE’s Nisha Ali and Humaria Tasneem claimed two wickets each, while Kavisha Egodage, Ishni Mananelage and Esha Rohit took a wicket each.

Earlier, UAE reached a fighting total after Natasha Chherriath scored 23 off 42 balls hitting a boundary and Esha Rohit added 22 off 27 balls with the help of a boundary.

UAE also made disastrous start as they were reduced to 37-5 inside 11 overs but Cherriath shared 33 runs with Nisha Ali (17) for the sixth wicket and revived the innings.

Nepali skipper Rubina Chhetri claimed 3-12 and Ritu Kanoujiya took 2-9, while Nary Thapa claimed a wicket.

Meanwhile, Thailand defeated Malaysia by nine wickets and Hong Kong saw off China by 52 runs.