Nepal suffer 24-run defeat against Canada in CWC League 2

KATHMANDU: Nepal suffered a 24-run defeat to Canada in the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) League 2 encounter in Muscat on Saturday.

Chasing a target of 257 at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman, Nepal were bowled out for 232 in 46 overs.

Opener Arjun Kumal top-scored for Nepal with an impressive 87 runs. Dipendra Singh Airee contributed 27, while Gulshan Jha and Ishan Pandey scored 21 each. Rohit Paudel made 18, and Karan KC remained unbeaten on 17.

Kaleem Sana, Zahid Shirzad, Shail Patel and Harsh Thaker took one wicket each for Canada.

Earlier, Canada, who elected to bat after winning the toss, posted 256 runs in 50 overs, losing all their wickets. Opener Yuvraj Samra led the innings with a magnificent century, scoring 105 off 117 balls. His opening partner, Aaron Johnson, scored 36, while Harsh Thaker made 34 and captain Hamza Tariq contributed 30. Samit Gohel and Aditya Varadarajan chipped in with 17 and 12, respectively.

Lalit Rajbanshi picked up four wickets for Nepal, while captain Sandeep Lamichhane took three, Dipendra Singh Airee claimed two, and Rohit Paudel took one.

With the win, Canada climbed back to seventh on the table with 29 points from 36 matches. Nepal are seventh with 28 points, with a match against Oman remaining.

Nepal must defeat Oman in their final CWC League 2 fixture if they are to avoid finishing in the bottom two.