Nepal extends winless run in WCL-2, concedes three-wicket defeat against US

KATHMANDU: Nepal suffered a three-wicket defeat against the US in its opening match of the World Cricket League (WCL) 2 tri-series, which also includes Scotland, in Dallas on Monday morning.

Batting first, Nepal was all out for 286 runs. The US chased down the target with two balls to spare for the loss of seven wickets.

Openers Aasif Sheikh and Anil Sah gave Nepal a solid start, adding 98 runs for the first wicket. Anil scored 56 off 62 balls before being caught by Mukkamalla off Nosthush Kenjige’s bowling, while Aasif made a 53-ball 52 before Monank Patel stumped him off Jasdeep Singh.

Nepal lost Kushal Bhurtel cheaply for 11 off 28 balls. However, Captain Rohit Paudel played an aggressive knock of 96 off 75 balls, and Aarif Sheikh contributed 37 runs from 45 balls, taking Nepal past the 250-run mark. Dipendra Singh Airee scored 13 runs, while the other Nepali batters failed to reach double digits.

Kenjige took four wickets for the US, while Saurabh Netravalkar claimed two, and Shadley van Schalkwyk, Jasdeep Singh, and Harmeet Singh grabbed one wicket each.

Although the US lost opener Andries Gous for just one in the second over, Shayan Jahangir and Monank Patel added 161 runs for the second wicket, keeping the US firmly in the chase. Jahangir scored a magnificent 104 off 97 balls, while Patel scored 62 off 76 balls before being bowled by Lalit Rajbanshi.

Nepal applied pressure by dismissing Sai Teja Mukkamalla, Milind Kumar, and Sanjay Krishnamurthy for 11, 5, and 0 runs, respectively. However, Harmeet Singh and Shadley van Schalkwyk added 71 runs for the seventh wicket to take the US to victory. Singh scored 57 off 44 balls, while Shadley remained unbeaten on 29 from 37 balls. Jasdeep Singh contributed an unbeaten 11 from six balls.

Kushal Bhurtel claimed four wickets, conceding just 23 runs in his six-over spell. Sompal Kami took two, while Lalit claimed one wicket.

This was Nepal’s third straight loss in WCL-2 after an abandoned match against earned it a point in the tri-series in Canada. Nepal sits seventh in the eight-team WCL-2 table with three points from nine games, while the US is second with 14 points from 10 games.

Nepal will play Scotland in its second match of the tri-series on Tuesday.