Kathmandu: Nepal has won by 5 wickets in the first T20 international match against Kenya.
Nepal completed the target of 131 runs given by Kenya at the Gymkhana Cricket Ground in Nairobi by scoring 133 runs with the loss of 5 wickets in 19.2 overs.
With this win, Nepal has taken a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. Due to the visa problem, the Nepali team went to Kenya in four stages.
Sompal Kami and Vivek Yadav who went to the second round and Adil Alam who went to the third round went to play their first match against Kenya.
Chasing the target of 131 runs, Nepal did not start well. After dropping regular opener Kushal Bhurtel, Nepal made Pawan Sarraf open along with Asif Shaikh.
After more than two years, Pawan, who opened playing T20 international, got out for 1 individual run.
Similarly, former captain Gyanendra Malla, who returned to the national team after 6 months, batted at number three.
For Nepal, Dipendra Singh Airi scored the highest 31 runs while Asif Sheikh and Gyanendra Mall added 19 runs each.
Vice-captain Rohit Paudel scored 15 runs. Arif Shaikh scored an unbeaten 21 runs. Adil Alam remained unbeaten by 2 runs. Lucas Oluch and Viraj Patel of Kenya took 2 wickets each.
After losing the toss and batting first at the Gymkhan Cricket Ground in Nairobi, the home team Kenya scored 130 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. Irfan Karim scored the highest 34 runs for Kenya.
Lucas Nandason remained unbeaten on 30 runs. In bowling, Sompal Kami took 3 wickets and captain Sandeep Lamichhane took 2 wickets for Nepal. Adil Alam and Dipendra Singh Airi took 1 wicket each.
