KATHMANDU: With impressive performance from the middle order batsmen, Nepal won the second match of the one-day international series against UAE by 3 wickets on Wednesday.
With this win, Nepal has tied the three-match series 1-1. The final game on Friday will decide the winner of the series. Earlier, UAE won the first match played on Monday by 84 runs.
Middle-order Kushal Bhurtel, Gulsan Jha and Arif Shaikh batted together when they found the target of 192 runs given by UAE at the loss of 7 wickets at the TU Ground, Kirtipur. In 47.5 overs, Sompal Kami hit a four and gave Nepal an important win.
Chasing a small target, Nepal was under pressure after losing the first three wickets cheaply. Arjun Saud, who scored a half-century in the first match, got out without opening the account of runs in the first over, while another opener, Asif Shaikh, could also score only 6 runs.
Captain Rohit Kumar Paudel failed to score runs in the second game in a row. He was the victim of an LBW by UAE’s Rohan Mustafa in 8 runs. Gyanendra Malla, who came at number three, scored 26 runs in 59 balls with 4 fours and tried to finish the innings.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has restricted in using spit to shine the ball; however, after one of the UAE bowlers used spit to shine the ball, UAE had to suffer a penalty of 5 runs. At the start of the 21st over, UAE bowler Alishan Sharafu used spit while wiping the ball.
Dipendra Singh Airi added 13 runs. When Kushal Bhurtel was dismissed for 35 runs in 29.1 overs, Nepal was in a difficult position at 106-6.
However, after Arif Shaikh and Gulsan Jha shared a half-century of 62 runs for the seventh wicket, Nepal laid the foundation of victory. Gulson scored 37 runs off 49 balls with 4 fours and 1 six. Gulson, who also took 1 wicket in bowling, was selected as the all-match player. Arif remained unbeaten on 33 runs. Sompal Kami also scored 16 unbeaten runs in 16 balls with 2 fours.
Rohan Mustafa of UAE took 3 wickets, Hazrat Vilal took 2 wickets and Basil Hamid took 1 wicket.
Earlier, UAE, who won the toss and batted first, made a total of 191 runs before being bowled out in 43.2 overs.
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