Captain Paras Khadka hit a blistering century and Sharad Vesawkar’s patience half-century included the winning shot as Nepal recorded a highest run-chase to beat Namibia by 3 wickets in the ICC World Cricket League Championship match at the jam-packed TU Ground.
Paras (103 off 94 balls) and Sharad (74 not out of 107 balls) scored 167 for third-wicket partnership in the middle overs which proved match-winning chasing Namibia’s 239 for 9.
As it’s now customary for Nepali batsmen to give a nervous time for fans, the fall of Paras ensued 5 quick wickets and at one time looked like Nepal may lose the momentum but Sharad and Basanta Regmi held nerves to seal the victory in a nail-biting finish in 49.5 overs.
Paras hits century in front of 10,000+ fans against Namibia.
Paras joined Sharad in the 14th over, when vice-captain Gyanendra Malla (22 runs) fell after a slow start. Other opener Naresh Budayair failed to score double-digit against some disciplined pace bowling and brilliant fielding of Namibians. Once they are on together, Paras started hitting around while Sharad provided the calmness as they scored freely.
Paras hit out seven sixes and five fours in his innings while Sharad was happy watching from the other end and ticking his scores slowly. Until Paras fell in 42nd over, it looked like Nepal was going to get home a few overs early but his wicket was the beginning of a landslide that saw Rajesh Pulami (1), Binod Bhandari (12), Sagar Pun (2) and Sompal Kami (1) walking in and out of the pitch that left Nepal needing 6 runs off last over.
It seemed easy however Nepal had scored just 8 runs from four earlier overs, a fact that took all 10,000+ fans on ground on foot. Basanta took single off a first ball, Sharad made 3 the next ball that followed a dot ball and a bye to put him on strike for winning run.
Sharad completes his second half-century in as many matches.
It’s second successive unbeaten half-century for Sharad and fourth in List A matches. He is currently trailing by a couple of runs to Championship’s leading run scorer Shaiman Anwar of UAE (276 runs in 6 matches).
Earlier, as in the first match, Namibia had a brilliant start and finish to their innings scoring 239 for 9 in 50 overs after losing the toss. Captain Stephan Baard (51) and wicketkeeper Zane Green (47) made a strong start with 95-run opening stand in 20 overs. Baard fell victim to 15-year-old leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane.
Once Baard was out of the crease, the spinners tightened the screw around taking four more wickets in quick succession – Pikky Ya France (4), Gerhard Erasmus (3) were run-out and Gerrie Snyman (0) fell leg before for a duck to Basanta. Left-arm slow Basanta’s double-wicket over included prized wicket of Green as well.
Namibia went down from 95 for 0 to 136 for 6 in no time. It was only Sarel Burger who hit 43 not out off 60 balls who ensured they take advantages of late overs. JP Kotze (32 off just 11 balls) played a little cameo while Nicolas Scholtz got 22 off 17.
Sompal Kami was hit around the ground and returned with a forgetable figure of 0 for 64 off 7 overs going nearly 10 runs an over. Shakti Gauchan, Basanta and Sandeep each took a couple of wickets while Paras bowled tight giving away 20 runs in 9 overs but took no wicket. For Namibia, most successful bower was Burger taking 3 wickets.
Yet another full-house match.
Brief scores: Namibia 239 for 9 (S Baard 51, Z Green 47, Burger 43*, Sandeep 2/39, Shakti 2/44, Basanta 2/45) lost to Nepal 240 for 7 in 49.5 overs (Paras 103, Sharad 74*, Burger 3/38, Groenewald 2/48) by 3 wickets.