Nepal lose against India ‘A’ by nine wickets

Nepal’s batting woes continued as they suffered a nine-wicket loss to India ‘A’ in the ongoing ACC Men’s Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2023 being played at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Monday.

Opting to bat first after winning the toss, Nepal set a measly 168-run target against India ‘A’, losing all wickets in 39.2 overs.

In response, the Indian team chased the target in 22.1 overs with the loss of one wicket.

Openers Sai Sudarshan and Abhishek Sharma gave their team a strong foundation with a 139-run partnership for the first wicket.

Sharma scored 87 runs playing 69 balls with the help of two sixes and 12 hits to the boundary. He was caught by Kushal Malla off Rohit Paudel’s delivery in 18.6 overs.

Sudarshan cracked a half-century as he scored 58 runs in 52 deliveries and remained not out. While Dhruv Jurel scored a fast 21 runs in just 12 balls with the help of two sixes and a boundary.

Earlier in the match, Nepali openers Kushal Bhurtel and Mohammad Arif Sheikh failed to stay on the crease for long as both of them were sent back packing within the first six overs.

Bhurtel was trapped leg before by Harshit Rana as he failed to open his score account and returned back to the pavilion after playing the first two balls of the inning. While Sheikh contributed seven runs and was caught by Jurel off Rajvardhan Hangargekar delivery in 5.1 overs.

Two overs later, Dev Khanal became the second victim of Hangargekar as he was caught by Riyan Parag in 7.2 overs. Khanal scored 15 runs with four hits to the fence.

Skipper Paudel came in to replace Khanal and cracked a half-century as he tried to stabilize the Nepali innings. Paudel scored 65 runs playing 85 balls with the help of seven hits to the fence before he was caught by Jurel off Nishant Sindhu’s delivery in 33.2 overs.

However, by the end of the 10th over, Nepal were already five down for 37.

Bhim Sharki (4 runs) was bowled out by Rana in 8.5 overs and Malla was out for a duck in 9.5 overs as he became Hangargekar’s third victim.

Sompal Kami scored 14 runs and was trapped leg-before by Manav Suthar in 23.6 overs.

Gulshan Jha followed his captain two overs later as he was caught by Jurel off Sindhu’s delivery in 35.1 overs.

Pawan Sarraf (6) and Lalit Rajbansi (3) both became the final two victims of Sindhu in 37.2 overs and 39.2 overs respectively.