Nepal defeat S’pore by 4-wicket in Asia Cup Qualifiers

Nepali batsmen leaving the field after taking the team home. Courtesy: Raman Shiwakoti

KATHMANDU: Nepal crushed Singapore by 4-wicket and 131 balls to spare to secure the second consecutive win of Asia Cup Qualifiers played at Bangi, in Selangor of Malaysia today.

Nepal’s spinner duo Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, Sandeep Lamichanne took three wickets each and spearhead Sompal Kami scalped two wickets to restrict Singapore to 151 all out in 42 overs.

Chetan Suryawanshi top-scored for S’pore with 60 runs off 88 balls studded with eight hits to the fence and a towering six towards cow corner.

Slow left-arm orthodox bowler Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi was adjudged man-of-the-match for his impressive figure of 9-1-27-3.

Nepal raced to victory with four wickets in hand and more than 22 overs to spare and kept its hope alive of making it to Asia Cup to be held in the United Arab Emirates.

In reply, Nepal made a formidable start as the openers shared a 50-run stand for the opening partnership. Nepal lost opener Anil Sah in the 11th over as he was cleaned up by Subramaniam peach of a delivery, with 56 runs on the board.

He made quick fire 43 runs off 32 balls with five smashing cover drives and two massive sixes over to long on region.

At one stage, Nepal were reeling at 72 for 3 after losing opener Subash Khakurael and skipper Parash Khadka in the 14th over. Khadka fell cheaply for run-a-ball 11 runs with a four.

Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal mainstay in the middle order, played another match-winning inning of 33 runs off just 34 balls with three fours and a six.

He and Sagar Pun fell in the 28th over leaving Nepal still in need of four runs, with all but the victory secured for Nepal with four wickets in hands. Opener Gyanendra Malla dropped to middle order contributed 29 runs in the winning cause.

Singapore bowlers Selladore Vijayakumar, Anantha Krishna took two wickets each and Karthikeyan Subramanian, Sharan Swaminathan chipped in with a wicket each.

After today’s victory, Nepal climb to fourth place in the six-team table. The top two teams will qualify for the upcoming Asia Cup slated for September 15 in UAE.

Earlier, Nepal had defeated the hosts Malaysia by 19 runs.

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