Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Anil Kumar Shah and Bhim Sharki struck magnificent centuries as Nepal defeated Canada by nine wickets to take the bilateral ODI series 3-0 at the TU International Cricket Ground on Monday.
Electing to field first after winning the toss, Nepal restricted Canada to 232 runs in the allotted 50 overs. Nepal scored 234 losing one wicket with 33 balls to spare.
Nepali bowlers put pressure on Canada as debutant Hemant Dhami took the wicket of Aaron Johnson with just seven runs on the board. The second-wicket pair of Navneed Dhaliwal and Srimantha Wijeyeratne added 48 runs for Canada. Dhaliwal scored 50 runs from 82 balls, while Wijeyeratne scored 22 off 28 balls. The Canadian middle order offered some resistance as Harsh Thaker, Nikhil Dutta, Shreyas Movva, and Captain Saad Bin Zafar made significant contributions with the bat. Nikhil scored 45 runs off 62 balls, while Harsh, Shreyas, and Saad scored 29, 25, and 31 runs respectively.
Hemant Dhami, the 17-year-old right-arm medium-fast bowler, playing his first ODI match took three wickets, giving just 49 runs in his eight-over spell. Kushal Malla took two wickets while Lalit Rajbanshi and Aakash Chand had a wicket each to their names.
Chasing 233 to win, Nepal lost opener Kushal Bhurtel with 45 runs on the board. He scored 13 runs off 14 balls, which included three fours. Anil Sah and Bhim Sharki, however, added a record 189 runs for the second wicket to douse Canada’s hope of coming back into the game. Shah scored an unbeaten 112 runs off 124 balls, which included 12 fours and two sixes, while Sharki remained not out at 101 off 129 balls, which included 11 fours and a six.
Dillon Heyliger took the only wicket of the match for Canada.
Anil Sah was named Player of the Match for his magnificent ton while Rohit Paudel was named Player of the Series for his all-round performance.
Records Galore:
First Series Clean Sweep at Home
This was the first occasion that Nepal made a clean sweep of the series at home. Nepal achieved its first series clean sweep by taking the bilateral series with Papua New Guinea 2-0 in Oman. Nepal also clean swept three-match ODI series with Kenya in Nairobi in 2022.
Highest Second Wicket Partnership
The 189-run partnership between Anil Sah and Bhim Sarki is Nepal’s highest partnership in ODI cricket. The two broke the record of a 171-run partnership made by Kushal Bhurtel and Asif Sheikh in Zimbabwe last year.
Two Centuries in an Inning
This is the first time that two Nepali batsmen struck centuries in an ODI. While Anil scored a not-out 112 runs, Bhim remained unbeaten at 101 runs.
Three wickets on debut
Hemant Dhami has become the first Nepali bowler to take three wickets in an ODI match in his debut game. Dhami took the wickets of Aaron Johnson, Shreyas Movva and Dillon Heyliger in his eight-over spell giving 49 runs on Monday.
