KATHMANDU: Winning the Philippines by the wide difference of 136, Nepal has further strengthened its journey towards semifinal in the ongoing T20 World Cup Global Qualifiers.
Nepal lost three wickets in 20 overs and scored 218 runs in the match taking place in Oman.
Nepal had started a poor show by losing the first wicket for nine runs and the second for 12 runs.
The Staggering batting line was held firmly by the outstanding batting of opener Kushal Bhurtel and Dipendra Sing Airee.
Bhurtel and Airee contributed a partnership of 171 runs. Bhurtel scored outstanding 104 runs in the match he scored his fifth international half century and first international century. Kushal became the third Nepali to score international century. Earlier Paras Khadka and Gynendra Malla had scored their centuries in the match played against Singapore and Bhutan respectively.
Nepal’s opener Ashif Sheikh was out without opening an account. After that, when Nepal scored 36 runs, the second wicket fell. Nepal’s Kushal Malla was out for 12 runs. He hit two fours in 10 balls.
Bhurtel and Airee shared 171 runs for the third wicket. They have broken the record of Paras and Arif Sheikh. Earlier, Paras Khadka and Arif Sheikh broke the record for the largest partnership of 145 runs set against Singapore in 2019.
Similarly, Airee contributed his 83 runs to set a massive target to Philippines. Dipendra hit six fours and four sixes in 47 balls. He has also completed 700 runs in T20I. He is the third highest run scorer for Nepal in T20I. He has scored a total of 713 runs.
In reply, the Philippines lost eight wickets in 20 overs and were bowled out for 82 runs.
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