Nepal beats US by 17 runs in 1st T2OI

KATHMANDU: Nepal defeated the US by 17 runs in the first match of the three-match bilateral T20I series in Dallas on Friday morning.

Invited to bat first, Nepal scored 164 runs in the allotted 20 overs for the loss of nine wickets. In response, the US could only manage 147, losing seven wickets.

Openers Aasif Sheikh and Anil Sah put on 48 runs off 33 balls for the first wicket. Anil scored 27 from 18 balls, while Aasif hit 27 off as many balls. Although Kushal Bhurtel fell in the 11th over for 10, Captain Rohit Paudel scored 49 off 33 balls to anchor Nepal’s batting. Gulsan Jha scored 11 off 7 before Man of the Match Dipendra Singh Airee hit 28 off 17 balls. Karan KC and Aarif Sheikh were out for ducks.

Saurabh Netravalkar, Jasdeep Singh, and Harmeet Singh took two wickets each for the US, while Ali Khan and Nosthush Kenjige claimed a wicket each.

The US made a poor start in the chase as both openers Monank Patel and Saiteja Mukkamalla were back in the pavilion with just eight runs on the board. Andries Gous and Milind Kumar tried to rebuild the US innings, scoring 30 and 22, respectively, before Shayan Jahangir threatened to take the match away from Nepal with an unbeaten 60 runs off 34 balls. Jasdeep Singh added 16 off 12.

Dipendra Singh Airee took three US wickets, conceding 27 runs in his three-over spell. Rijan Dhakal, Karan KC and Gulsan Jha claimed a wicket each.

The second match of the series will be played on Saturday.