Pursuing its World Cup dream, Nepali cricket team has inched closer to the World T20 Cup 2014 to be held in Bangladesh after advancing to the World T20 Qualifiers to be held in the UAE in November, thanks to its semifinal qualification in the ACC T20 Cup on Sunday.
Nepal registered the biggest ever T20 victory in terms of run margin against Singapore at the TU Cricket Ground on Sunday to secure berth in the World Cup Qualifiers for the second time in a row.
The top 16 associate members of International Cricket Council (ICC) will compete in the qualifiers. Of them, the top six teams will qualify for the World T20 Cup. Nepal had finished seventh in the last edition of the qualifiers.
Nepal elected to bat and put up a mammoth 210/5 in 20 overs as the middle-order batted brilliantly adding 133 runs in the last 10 overs.
The 210-run total is the biggest T20 score by Nepal so far. Nepal´s previous biggest total in T20 was the 183 runs scored against Saudi Arabia in the last edition of the tournament in 2011 in Kathmandu.
In reply, Singapore was all out for 89 runs in 15.1 overs as four Nepali spinners shared seven wickets to seal the 121-run victory.
Nepal´s previous biggest win in terms of runs was the 95-run victory over Saudi Arabia in 2011, while the team´s biggest win in terms of wickets is the nine-wicket victory over Singapore in 2009.
Binod Bhandari
“It was a team effort and I´m happy, but we still have a long way to go,” said Nepali captain Paras Khadka, who was adjudged the man-of-the-match for his 44 runs off 25 balls.
Following the win, Nepal reached the semifinals of the ACC T20 Cup as the runner-up of Group A, where Hong Kong is at the top of the table with four victories in the group stage. Hong Kong had defeated Nepal by six wickets in the group stage.
Nepal will take on the UAE in the semifinal on Tuesday while Hong Kong will lock horns with Afghanistan. UAE has topped Group B with four wins while Afghanistan is the runner-up with three victories.
Nepal and Hong Kong secured tickets to the World T20 Qualifiers as semifinalists. Afghanistan by virtue of its ODI status and the UAE as the host have already booked their berths in the qualifiers.
In the match full of records, Nepal made a nervous start as opener Subash Khakurel was caught by Amjad Mahboob off Shoaib Razzak in the first ball of the second over. Khakurel made five runs off three balls.
However, another opener Pradeep Airee and Binod Bhandari, who was promoted in the batting order, put up a 55-run partnership for the second wicket. Airee was caught by Chaminda Kumarage off Irfan Madakia in the fourth ball of the ninth over when he was batting at 30 off 32 balls.
Nepal accelerated the innings after captain Paras Khadka arrived at the crease when the team was progressing at 64/2. Khadka and Bhandari shared a 72-run partnership for the third wicket off 39 balls.
Bhandari scored 54 runs off 34 balls with three fours and four sixes. Bhandari dispatched Singapore bowler Madakia for a four and two consecutive sixes in the first three balls of the 11th over.
It was Bhandari´s maiden T20 half-century and the ninth by a Nepali batsman. Nepali captain Khadka has the most half-centuries in T20 with a tally of four.
Bhandari was caught by Madakia off Amjad Mahboob in the first ball of the 16th over.
Vice-captain Gyanendra Malla joined Khadka at the crease and gave momentum to Nepal´s innings. Malla smashed three sixes and a four in the 17th over bowled by Saad Janjua. Skipper Khadka was caught and bowled by Anish Param in the first ball of the 18th over after making 44 runs off 25 balls with four boundaries and a six.
Khadka and Malla shared a 29-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Malla departed three balls later, immediately after hitting his fourth six in the third ball of the over. Malla scored a quick 30 runs off 11 balls.
Bhandari and Malla became the third and fourth Nepali batsman respectively to hit four or more sixes in a T20 innings. Mehboob Alam had clobbered six sixes against Saudi Arabia in 2011 and Pradeep Airee had smashed four sixes against the Maldives in the opening match of the ongoing tournament.
Prithu Baskota (9 runs off 4 balls) and Sharad Vesawkar put up an unbeaten 38-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Vesawkar clobbered 26 runs off 11 balls with three sixes to guide Nepal to a mammoth total.
The Nepali innings included 12 sixes, the most by Nepali batsmen in an innings so far. Earlier, Nepali batsmen had hit eight sixes against Saudi Arabia in 2011.
“Everyone clicked at the right time, be it Binod Bhandari, Gyanendra Malla or Sharad Vesawkar,” said Nepali team coach Pubudu Dassanayake. “Everyone batted well and this form could help us more in the upcoming matches,” he added.
“Scoring 200-plus was exceptional and more importantly everybody is contributing for the team,” said Nepali captain Khadka.
In reply, Singapore batsmen fell victim to poor shot selection and had no answer to Nepal´s spinners. Pacer Chandra Sawad bowled Rezza Gaznavi (one run) in the fourth ball of the first over and skipper Khadka trapped Arjun Mutreja (6 runs) lbw in the next over.
Nepali spinners shared seven wickets among the four of them while skipper Khadka was involved in a brilliant run-out of Amjad Mahboob as Singapore was bundled out for 89 runs.
Basanta Regmi claimed three wickets with a bowling figure of 4-1-17-3. Shakti Gauchan dismissed two Singapore batsmen while Prithu Baskota and debutant Sagar Pun claimed a wicket each.
Pun, the Nepali U-19 star who was a reserve player in the Nepali team, was included in the 14-member team replacing Anil Mandal for the first time on Saturday. The off-spinner won his first cap for the national team as Sanjam Regmi was rested for the match against Singapore.
Singapore captain Saad Janjua was the top scorer with 20 runs off 12 balls while Kshitij Shinde (15 runs), Mahboob (16 runs) and Shoaib Razzak (12 runs) were the other major contributors. The 31-run partnership between Mahboob and Shinde for the seventh wicket was the highest of the Singapore innings.
“I’m happy to qualify for the semifinals but I can be content only after winning the tournament,” said Nepali skipper Khadka. “We have no option other than winning the semifinal against the UAE and I hope we can enjoy the support of home crowd in the upcoming matches,” he added.