KATHMANDU: In the ICC World Cup League-2, Nepal bagged an important victory over UAE by 42 runs, its first win against UAE.
Chasing the target of 230 runs given by Nepal, UAE managed to score only 187 runs after losing all wickets in 45 overs.
With Bhim Sarki’s impressive batting with half-century, Nepal had set a target of 230 runs against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the tri-nation series under the League-2.
Nepal won the toss and came into bat in the ongoing match at the Dubai International Cricket Ground in the UAE.
For Nepal, Bhim scored 70 runs in 99 balls with seven fours. Bhimm, who came to bat when Nepal was 49-3, completed 50 runs in 78 balls with four fours.
This is Bhim’s first fifty in ODI cricket. Before that, Bhim shared a 56-run partnership with Sandeep Lamichhane for the sixth wicket in the difficult situation of Nepal’s scoreboard 68-5 and raised the team’s innings. Sandeep scored 27 runs off 40 balls with one boundary.
Similarly, Bhim also shared a partnership of 56 runs with Aarif Sheikh for the seventh wicket. Aarif remained unbeaten on 43 runs. Kushal Malla added 32 runs while Gyanendra Malla and Pratish GC added 11 runs each.
Opener Aasif Sheikh returned to the pavilion as the first wicket when Nepal scored 14 runs. When Nepal added 34 runs, it lost another opener Gyanendra Malla as the second wicket. After adding 49 runs, Nepal lost its captain Rohit Kumar Paudel.
Junaid Siddiqui of UAE took three wickets. Rohat Mustafa and Aryan Lakra took two wickets. Karthik Meiyappan took one wicket.
With this win, Nepal has risen to the fifth position in the points table. Nepal has 32 points in 32 matches.
Similarly, Scotland is at the top with 50 points. Second-placed Oman has 44 points, third-placed Namibia has 39 points and fourth-placed USA has 35 points.
Earlier, UAE, which was in fifth place, dropped to sixth place with this defeat. UAE have 31 points from 32 matches.
Now, Nepal has to win the remaining four games to qualify for the World Cup qualifiers.
Nepal, UAE and Papua New Guinea will meet in the final tri-nation series of League-2 from March 9.
The tri-nation series will be held at the TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur.
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