Allrounder Pawan Sarraf and wicketkeeper-batsman Binod Bhandari shone against Marylebone Cricket Club as Nepal secured a five-wicket win—their first under new captain Gyanendra Malla—over the visiting side.

Nepal overcame early hiccups to comfortably chase down the target of 202 runs in 37.3 overs losing five wickets. Nepal were reduced to 18-2 after openers Ishan Pandey (4) and Malla (10) returned to the pavillion. But Bhandari and Sarraf anchored the innings to shape Nepal’s victory.

Sarraf, who had earlier claimed four MCC wickets, made 38 and Bhandari hit the winning runs with a boundary to remain unbeaten at 52 as Nepal finished at 205-5.

“It was a convincing win but our start to the innings was not ideal. We have to work on that. But we can take pride in the kind of performance we displayed today,” Malla said afterwards.

After early loss of wickets, Sharad Vesawkar and Dipendra Singh Airee provided the much-needed stability to the Nepal innings, sharing 61 runs for the third wicket.

However, MCC gave Nepal a scare when Alex Thompson removed Vesawkar (24) and Airee (23) in the space of two balls to leave the home team at 81-4 in 17.4 overs.

Aarif Sheikh and Bhandari gave respite to the innings as the pair added 54 runs for the fifth wicket. Sheikh (23), caught by Tom Westley off Arafat, made his way back to the pavilion with Nepal still needing 67 runs from 21.5 overs.

Bhandari then found an able partner in Sarraf as the duo exhibited some impressive shots to seal the win for Nepal with 12.3 overs to spare. While the wicket-keeper batsman hit two sixes and three fours, all-rounder Sarraf went one better clubbing two sixes and four fours.

Earlier, electing to bat first, MCC appeared to be heading towards a mammoth total finding themselves at 162-3 in 27 overs. However, Nepali bowlers pegged back MCC claiming their seven remaining wickets for just 39 runs to limit them to 201 in 39.5 overs.

Openers Will Rhodes (54) and Billy Godleman (52) laid a good platform, but MCC failed to capitalise on that as other batsmen fell rather cheaply to Nepali bowlers. Rhodes had missed out on a century by just seven runs against Nepal U-19 on Saturday.

MCC simply had no answers to spin attacks of Lalit Rajbanshi and Sarraf. While Sarraf gave away 31 runs in his eight-over spell with a maiden, Rajbanshi conceded 40 runs in his 10 overs with one maiden. Avinash Bohara and Karan KC both picked a wicket apiece.

Despite the win, the new skipper did not appear content enough. The match helped Malla identify room for improvement in Nepal’s performance as he said, “We certainly need to work on our fielding. A few drop catches and some sloppy works were all evident in the game.”

On the exclusion of former captain Paras Khadka, Sompal Kami and Sandeep Lamichhane, Malla said: “Khadka stayed out due to illness, while Kami is carrying a minor injury. It actually was an opportunity for other players in the squad and they made the best out of it.”

On Lamichhane’s absence, Malla said the star spinner had expressed interest in playing the first-class certified three-day match.