Kathmandu: Nepal beat Papua New Guinea by 3 wickets in the ICC Cricket World Cup League Two after openers Asif Sheikh and Sandeep Lamichhane shared a record eighth wicket partnership.
After opener Asif batted patiently and scored 86 unbeaten runs, Nepal completed the target of 180 runs given by Papua New Guinea by playing 48 overs and losing 7 wickets.
Nepal’s batting start was very bad. After losing Kushal Bhurtel in the first ball of the innings, Nepal had already lost 7 wickets when they scored 105 runs.
Sandeep came in to bat after Kushal Malla was dismissed for 23 runs as the seventh wicket. Coach Monty Desai sent Sandeep, who batted aggressively against UAE, ahead of Karan KC and Sompal Kami.
Sandeep not only supported Ashif who was playing at the crease, but continued his aggressive batting. Both shared a record partnership of 77 runs for the eighth wicket.
Earlier, Dipendra and Sompal Kami shared an unbeaten 55-run partnership against Scotland in League Two for the eighth wicket.
Asif, who faced 130 balls, scored an unbeaten 86 with the help of 2 fours and 1 six. Sandeep scored an unbeaten 35 off 50 balls with 3 fours.
35 runs scored by Sandeep is the highest score scored in any innings of his career.
Other batsmen of Nepal could not even reach double figures. Dipendra Singh Airi and Bhim Sarki were out for 8/8 runs each, Gyanendra Malla scored 6 runs while captain Rohit Kumar Paudel and Arif Sheikh scored 1 run each. Kushal Bhurtel was out for a wicket.
For PNG, captain Asad Vala took 3 wickets and Semo Kamia and Sese Bau took 2 wickets each.
Before that, PNG, who won the toss and elected to bat first, made 179 for all in 49.2 overs. Opener Tony Ura scored 39 runs for him. Hiri Hiri scored 31 and Kiplin Doriga added 26 runs.
Nepal’s Sompal Kami and Dipendra Singh Airi took 2/2 wickets each while Sandeep Lamichhane, Karan KC and Kushal Malla took one wicket each.
After the win, Nepal is in sixth place with 30 points from 31 matches. Nepal has now to play one match in the series in UAE. Nepal will play against UAE next Monday.
After that, the final series with UAE and PNG will be played at home. Nepal will now have to win the remaining five matches to qualify for the World Cup by being in the top three of League Two.
