Kathmandu: Nepal lost to Papua New Guinea (PNG) in the second ODI despite Dipendra Singh Eri’s century on today’s match in the international series.
PNG completed Nepal’s target of 289 runs in 48.4 overs for the loss of 7 wickets. PNG has won a bilateral ODI series 2-0 in Nepal for the first time.
Nepal has won two out of the four series so far. There was a chain. Nepal, who played the first ODI series at home, lost. Lega Siaka scored 90 in PNG’s win.
Similarly, Riley Hekure added an unbeaten 48 runs down the order. This is Nepal’s second consecutive defeat to PNG. Rohit Paudel scored 126 runs in the first match played on Friday but Nepal lost to PNG by 6 runs.
Chasing the target, PNG did not have a good start. Captain Sandeep Lamichhane bowled the first over and PNG added nine runs. But Sompal Kami took two consecutive wickets in the second over.
The other opener handled the innings from one side. Siya and Charles Amini shared a 69-run partnership for the third wicket.
Captain Sandeep broke the partnership in the 13th over and caught Charles Amini on lbw. Amini played 30 balls and scored 35 runs with the help of 7 fours. Gulshan bowled 1 overs in the game and spent 20 runs.
Along with captain Sandeep and Sompal Kami, Gulshan was the only main bowler in the Nepalese team. But after Gulshan’s dismissal, Nepal’s bowler got short. After that Pawan Sarraf and Arif Sheikh also had to bowl a lot.
Lega Siaka then put on 110 runs for the fourth wicket with Sesse Bau. Pawan Sarraf broke the century partnership by bowling Lega Siaka in the 33rd over. Siya played 102 balls and scored 90 runs with the help of 12 fours and 1 six.
In the 37th over, Pawan also caught Cess Bau. Sesse Bau played 69 balls and scored 38 runs with the help of 2 fours.
After that Hiri Hiri got out for 13 and Norman Bhanua scored 11 runs. But Riley Hekur batted from one side to give PNG the victory. Hekur scored an unbeaten 48 off 45 balls with the help of 3 fours and 2 sixes. Chad Sapar added 16 not out. Superhit a six to give PNG the win.
Sompal Kami took 3 wickets for Nepal in the bowling. Similarly, Pawan Sarraf took two wickets and captain Sandeep Lamichhane and Arif Sheikh took one wicket each. Sandeep completed 50 wickets in ODI cricket on Saturday.
Earlier, Nepal’s team scored 278 runs in 50 overs at the TU International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur after winning the toss with the help of a century from Deepender Singh Eri.
Dipendra scored 105 runs for Nepal. Similarly, Dev Khanal scored 72 runs, Rohit Paudel scored 35 runs and Bhim Sarki scored 26 runs. Captain Sandeep Lamichhane scored 24 not out.
Nepal lost both the openers in three overs. But the middle order handled the batting innings well.
In the powerplay, Nepal scored 31 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. Dev and Deepender shared a record century partnership for the third wicket.
Both shared a partnership of 129 runs in 28.1 overs. This is Nepal’s highest partnership for any wicket in ODIs. Earlier, in the match played against PNG on Friday, Rohit Poudel and Arif Sheikh shared a 104-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
Nepal’s run rate increased after both Dev and Deependra’s half-centuries. Dev Khanal, who made his debut against PNG in the previous match, scored his maiden half-century in the second match. He played 86 balls and scored 72 runs with the help of 4 fours and 3 sixes.
After this, Deependra played a half-century with Rohit Poudel for the fourth wicket. Rohit got out in the 40th over after sharing a 58-run partnership with Dipendra for the fourth wicket.
Chad Saper bowled to Rohit. Rohit, who scored a century in the last match, added 36 runs in 36 balls with the help of 3 fours.
After that, Deependra shared a 55-run partnership with Bhim Sarki for the fifth wicket. Dipendra, who completed a century in the 47th over, was out in the next over. He played 140 balls and scored 105 runs with the help of 7 fours. Nepal lost three wickets including Deependra in the 48th over.
On the next ball, Chad Super to Dipendra and Norman Bhanua of PNG took two consecutive wickets by bowling Bhim Sarki. Bhim played 19 balls and added 26 runs in 1 four and 1 six. On the last ball of the same over, Bhanu dismissed Arif Sheikh for 4 runs.
Nepal’s wicket-taking streak did not stop. Pawan Sarraf was out on the first ball of the 49th over. Nepal lost 4 wickets in 7 balls.
After that, captain Sandeep scored an unbeaten 24 runs with the help of 2 fours and 1 six after playing 9 balls. On the third ball of the last over, the PNG fielder dropped the catch of Sandeep. Sandeep played all 6 balls of the last over and added 16 runs.
For PNG, Ale Now took 3 wickets, Norman Vanua took 2 wickets and Chad Supper and Charles Amini took 1-1.
