Nepal beat UAE to finish third
KATHMANDU, DEC 01 -
Vesawkar finishes the job in the last over with unbeaten 43
Chasing a victory target of 132, Nepal required 11 runs off the final over which they attained with four balls to spare. Vesawkar cleared the fence twice off the first two balls of the over as Nepal finished at 133-5 in 19.2 overs. He finished unbeaten on 43.
Putting the UAE into bat, Nepal, who secured a World Cup berth with a win over Hong Kong on Wednesday, picked up wickets at vital moments to restrict the home side to 131-5. Left-arm spinner Basanta Regmi dismissed opener Amjad Javed (14) and Khurram Khan (1) to leave the UAE tottering at 28-2 in the first six overs of powerplay.
Abdul Shakoor (28) and Rohan Mustafa (24) tried to stabilise the hosts’ innings, sharing 38 runs for the third wicket. But Mustafa was stumped off the bowling of Shakti Gauchan, while Shakoor holed out to Anil Mandal off the bowling of Regmi. Shaiman Anwar smashed 2 fours and a six to race to 24 off just 18 balls before Regmi returned to dismiss him to close the UAE innings at 131-5.
Regmi was the pick of Nepali bowlers, finishing with impressive figures of 4-16.
In reply, Nepal made a solid start as they raced to 29 in four overs with Sagar Pun on fire, scoring 19 runs with the help of three boundaries. But the dangerous looking Pun holed out to Shakoor off the bowling of Shahdeep Silva, while Gyanendra Malla (4) fell cheaply to medium pacer Kamra Shahzad.
Captain Paras Khadka, who has played an important role with bat and ball in Nepal’s campaign, failed to make any impact this time around as Nasi Aziz trapped him leg before for just two runs to leave Nepal at 50-3 after 10.2 overs.
Opener Subash Khakurel (38) and Veswaker then put on 47 runs to steady Nepal at 97-3 after 15 overs. But Nepal’s asking run rate shot up, with a couple of quick wickets as Khakurel was dismissed by Shazad and Binod Bhandari fell to Amjad Javed for a duck.
Veswakar and Anil Mandal then shared an unbeaten stand of 36 runs to take Nepal home in 19.2 overs. Mandal hit two boundaries to finish not out on 13, while Vesawker again showed his finishing skills smashing three fours and three sixes in his 29-ball knock.
Man-of-the-match Basanta Regmi expressed his delight at the team’s win and commended his team-mate Vesawker for his outstanding finishing.
“Obviously we would have liked to win the tournament but finishing third is also a big achievement. I am really happy with my performance and the overall performance of the team,” said Regmi.
Summary
Nepal 133-5 (Vesawkar 43, Khakurel 38, Pun 19, Shazad 2-22, Javed 1-15, Aziz 1-15) beat UAE 131-5 (Shakoor 28, Anwar 24, Mustafa 24, Regmi 4-16, Gauchan 1-31) by five wickets
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