A half century from skipper Rubina Chhetry gave Nepal women's team 61-run victory over hosts Qatar as they took an inaccessible 2-0 lead in the three three-match Twenty20 International Series at the West End Park International Cricket Stadium in Doha on Wednesday.

Electing to bat first, Nepal posted 129-6 after captain Chhetry scored exactly 50 runs becoming second woman cricketer of the country to reach the mark. In bowling, Saraswati Kumari Chaudhary claimed four wickets as the hosts were bowled out for 68 runs with three balls to spare.

In the first match of the series played on Tuesday, Nepal had registered 119-run win to pull their biggest ever victory by runs in T20I. In doing so, batter Indu Barma, who retired hurt, scored 55 runs becoming the first women cricketer to reach T20I half century for Nepal.

Chhetri, who came to bat at number three as Nepal were tottering at 2-20, shared a 56-run stand for the third wicket with opener Kabita Kunwar. She hit four fences and a six in her 48 ball knock before being caught by Aysha off Saachi Dhadwal.

Opener Kabita Kunwar and Apsari Begam were other remarkable contributors for Nepal scoring 31 runs and not out 23 runs respectively. No other Nepali batter managed to reach a double digit figure. Kunwar hit two sixes in her 30-ball knock while Begam hit a boundary facing 17 deliveries.

Nepal’s T20I debutant Jyoti Pandey (6), Kajal Shrestha (3), Sarita Magar (4) were out cheaply. Sabnam Rai also played her first T20I match.

Qatar bowler Angeline Mara picked two wickets while Aleena Khan, Sabeeja Panayan and Saachi Dhadwal pocketed one each.

In the run chase, Qatar lost the first three wickets for six runs as Chaudhary dismissed them all. She removed openers Dhadwal for four runs, her opening partner Hiral Agarwal and Panayan for a duck each.

Captain Aysha and Kerry Pounsett were the only Qatar batters to manage double digit figures. Aysha hit 24 off 32, that included two boundaries, before being bowled by Kabita Joshi. Pounsett scored 18 ball-15 before being removed by Sabnam Rai.

Chaudhary took four wickets in her four-over spell with a maiden over. She conceded eight runs. Captain Chhetry picked two wickets in the last over. Kabita Joshi, Sangita Rai and Sabnam Rai pocketed one each.

The third match of the bilateral series will be played on Thursday.

Nepal are in Qatar to prepare for the ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifiers set to take place from November 22 to 28 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They will leave for the UAE on November 19. The Qualifiers feature six teams including hosts UAE, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Bhutan and Nepal. The team finishing on top of the standings after round robin league will qualify for the final phase of qualifiers next year.