Nepal, which received ODI recognition for the first time on March 15, 2018, will be allowed to play as an ODI team for four more years.
Nepal maintained its ODI status by defeating UAE by 177 runs in an important match under the ICC World Cup League-2 at the University Ground in Kirtipur on Sunday.
According to the rules of the International Cricket Council (ICC) that the top five teams of League-2 will be recognized as ODIs, Sunday’s match was important for Nepal. In the game, despite a bad start by batting first, Nepal’s middle-order batsmen handled the innings patiently.
In bowling, Nepal continuously increased pressure on UAE by performing excellently from the first over.
With Sunday’s win, it is certain that Nepal will be in the top five of League-2, and it has also moved up to the fourth place in the points table, behind America. With today’s defeat, the possibility of one-day recognition from the League-2 of the UAE has ended. With Nepal’s victory, America’s one-day recognition has been achieved from League-2.
Chasing the target of 249 runs set by Nepal at the Trivi Maidan, UAE were bowled out for 71 runs in 22.5 overs.
UAE got off to a bad start and lost four wickets in six overs. Lalit Rajwanshi of Nepal bowled Vritya Arivand of UAE in the fifth ball of the innings. Similarly, in the fourth ball of the third over, Dipendrasingh Airi also bowled Aryan Lakra for zero and gave Nepal its second success. At that time, UAE scored only 6 runs.
Lalit caught Mohammad Wasim for 8 runs in the fourth ball of the fifth over. Lalit kept the maiden without conceding any runs in both the first and fifth overs.
After scoring 8 runs in 5 overs, UAE lost another wicket in the first ball of the sixth over. Nepal managed to take four wickets when Sompal Kami caught Ashif Khan for 6 runs from wicketkeeper Ashif Shaikh.
UAE lost their fifth wicket in the 14th over. Sandeep Lamichhane bowled Rohan Mustafa lbw for 6 runs in 13.4 overs while giving Nepal their fifth success.
Nepal took the sixth wicket after Lalit, who was in excellent form from the start, scored 29 runs and caught Ayan Khan from the hand of Kushal Bhurtel, and more pressure was added on UAE. Sandeep bowled Zawar Farid of UAE for 2 runs while taking his second personal and seventh wicket for Nepal. Similarly, Gulzhan Jha caught Ashwat Valthapa off Dipendra for 14 runs.
In bowling, Nepal’s Lalit Rajwanshi took 5 wickets and Sandeep Lamichhane took 2 wickets. Similarly, Sompal Kami, Gulzhan Jha and Dipendrasingh Airi defeated by 1-1 runs. Lalit conceded only 20 runs while keeping 2 maidens in 7.5 overs.
After winning the toss, Nepal batted first and got bowled out for 248 runs with 4 balls to play.
Captain Rohit Kumar Paudel added 77 runs for Nepal. He hit 9 fours off 112 balls. Rohit, who entered the field at a loss of wickets, shared 54 runs with Bhim Sarki for the fourth wicket and 86 runs with Arif Sheikh for the fifth wicket. Because of this, Nepal’s innings was boosted.
With his fifty, Rohit became the highest scorer for Nepal. Rohit has scored eight fifties including one century for Nepal.
Before that, Nepal’s openers Asif Sheikh and Kushal Bhurtel were dismissed for 8 runs. Nepal lost both openers while running five overs. Nepal’s Kushal Malla returned to the pavilion for 9 runs while losing the third wicket at 22 runs in 7.1 overs.
In the beginning, UAE’s Ayan Khan and Aryan Lakra, who bowled the spinners from both ends, were impressive. Asif was bowled by Ayan, Bhurtel was caught lbw by Ayan.
Bhim Sarki, who batted patiently with three wickets down, added 29 runs. He hit 4 fours in 37 balls. 43 runs added by Arif Sheikh also proved to be important for Nepal. He hit 5 fours in 52 balls.
Gulshan Jha added 37 runs. He hit 1 four and 3 sixes in 32 balls. Dipendra Singh Airey scored 34 runs in 19 balls while batting aggressively. He hit 3 fours and 2 sixes in 19 balls.
Sandeep Lamichhane and Sompal Kami were dismissed for 2 runs each.
In bowling, UAE’s Ayan Khan, Zahoor Khan, Jawar Farid and Rohan Mustafa managed to take 2 wickets each.
This series between Nepal, UAE and PNG is the last series of ICC World Cup League-2. The final series of League-2 between seven teams will decide the team that will qualify for World Cup qualification, ODI recognition and World Cup Qualifier Playoffs.
With today’s victory, Nepal will be able to compete in the World Cup Qualifiers where 10 countries will compete by winning the remaining two matches and making it to the top three of League-2.