Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Nepal defeated Ireland ‘A’ by six wickets in the first match of the two-match T20 series at the TU International Cricket Ground on Monday.
Batting first after winning the toss, Ireland ‘A’ was all out for 121 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Nepal overcame the target, losing four wickets with 23 balls to spare.
Ireland ‘A’ made a poor start with the bat as the visitors lost opener Ross Adair in the second ball of the inning. Although another opener, Stephen Doheny, batted well, he lost support at the other end as Ireland ‘A’ lost wickets at regular intervals. He scored 46 off 39 balls which included four fours and two towering sixes. Thomas Mayes and Liam McCarthy scored 16 each, while Fionn Hand scored 11 runs. Other Ireland ‘A’ batters failed to reach double digits.
Lalit Rajbanshi, Gulshan Jha, and Kushal Bhurtel each took two wickets for Nepal, while Karan KC and Kushal Malla each had a wicket to their names.
Chasing 122 to win, Nepal added 32 runs for the first wicket. Although Aasif Sheikh, Rohit Paudel, and Gulshan Jha departed in the space of five balls, Sandeep Jora and Kushal Bhurtel batted sensibly to avoid another batting collapse for Nepal. Aasif scored 16 from 11 balls, while Rohit was out for a duck and Gulshan scored four runs. Kushal Bhurtel top-scored for Nepal with an unbeaten 37 from 32 balls, while Sandeep Jora scored 36 off 35 balls and Dipendra Singh Airee scored an unbeaten 20 off 12 balls.
Gareth Delany took two wickets for Ireland, while Ben White and Thomas Mayes had a wicket each to their names.
Nepal is playing its second match against Ireland ‘A’ on Tuesday.
