Himal Press 
Kushal Bhurtel celebrates his second ODI century.
KATHMANDU: Nepal defeated the US by nine wickets in their second match of the ICC World Cricket League 2 tri-series at the TU International Cricket Ground on Saturday, as opener Kushal Bhurtel marked his return to the playing XI with a magnificent century.
Batting first after winning the toss, the US were bowled out for 195 runs in 43.3 overs. Nepal chased down the 196-run target for the loss of one wicket in 36.4 overs.
Although the US lost opener Shayan Jahangir (6) cheaply, the US added 100 runs for the second wicket as opener Samit Patel (83) and No. 3 batter Shehan Jayasuriya (50) got half-centuries. Other US batters failed to build on the solid foundation, as only Milind Kumar (28) and Harmeet Singh (14) managed to reach double figures.
Dipendra Singh Airee claimed four wickets for Nepal, while Sompal Kami picked up two. Sandeep Lamichhane and Gulshan Jha took one wicket each.
Nepal made light work of the chase as their opening partnership added 145 runs in 26.3 overs. Bhurtel scored an unbeaten 120 off 118 balls to register his second ODI century, while Aasif Sheikh scored 58 off 72 balls. Debutant Ishan Pandey contributed 20 off 30 balls.
Mohammad Mohsin took the only wicket for the US.
The victory marked Nepal’s first win of the tri-series. Earlier, they had suffered a narrow two-run defeat against Scotland in their opening match under the DLS method. It was also the US’s second defeat of the series after they too lost to Scotland by two runs via the DLS method.
Nepal will take on Scotland in their third match of the tri-series on Monday.
