Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Nepal climbed to fifth place in the table in the ICC World Cricket League-2, defeating UAE by 42 runs in its final match of the tri-series at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
Batting first after winning the toss, Nepal made a disastrous start, losing its first wicket with just 13 runs on the board in the fifth over. Nepal lost wickets at regular intervals and languished at 5-68 in the 18th over before Bhim Sarki and Sandeep Lamichhane added 56 runs for the sixth wicket. Bhim Sarki formed another partnership with Aarif Sheikh to add 56 runs for the seventh wicket. Sarki scored 70 runs from 99 balls, while Aarif Sheikh scored a 56-ball 43. Lamichhane scored 27 runs from 40 balls.
UAE’s Junaid Siddique took three wickets, while Rohan Mustafa and Aryan Lakra each had two wickets to their name.
UAE made a strong start to the chase, despite losing opener Muhammad Waseem for a duck. Asif Khan and Aryan Lakra added 94 runs for the second wicket. Asif Khan scored 82 runs from 115 balls, while Lakra played a knock of 50 runs from 78 balls. But other UAE players failed to contribute with the bat. Eight UAE batsmen failed to reach double digits.
Sompal Kami and Dipendra Singh Airee took three wickets each for Nepal. Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, and Aarif Sheikh each had one wicket to their name.
Nepal won three out of its four matches in the tri-series. UAE surprisingly lost both its games against PNG but won one against Nepal.
The three teams will play the final tri-series of the WCL-2 at the TU Cricket International Stadium in Kathmandu later this week.
