Cricket
Nepal lose close encounter against US
Nepal succumb to a 39-run defeat against the hosts to finish the Series with three points out of a total eight on offer.Prajwal Oli
Nepal on Wednesday suffered yet another close encounter loss in the US Triangular Series of the ICC World Cup League 2 at the Moos Cricket Stadium in Pearland, Texas.
Nepal saw a dramatic collapse of the last five wickets for seven runs chasing a 246-run target to succumb to a 39-run defeat at the flat pitch of Moosa Cricket Stadium. From 6-199 at a stage, Nepal were bowled out for 206 runs in 47.4 overs.
After being invited to bat first, the US posted a challenging total of 245-7 in the allotted 50 overs.
"We were close to victory in most of the matches, I don't think we should have lost a single match in the tour the way we played," Nepal's captain Sandeep Lamichhane said after the US game on Wednesday. "We lost control in the last stage—be it the first game against Oman, the game tied against the US or even today."
Nepal threw away the last four wickets for 44 runs against Oman in the first match of the US Series to ultimately lose the game by 13 runs. In the second game against the US, Nepal failed to defend a 274-run target and the match ended in a last-ball tie. In that game as well, Nepal squandered seven wickets for just 31 as they were bowled out for 274 runs from 4-243 at a stage.
Nepal had pulled off a seven-wicket win over Oman in their second leg on Tuesday.
With the defeat against the hosts on Wednesday, Nepal wrapped up the Series with three points out of total eight on offer. They won one, lost two, and played a tie. Leaders Oman bagged four points with two wins and as many defeats. The US finished the home series with five points.
"In all matches of the Series, we have lost control in the last stage," Lamichhane lamented, "be it the first game against Oman, the game tied against the US or even today. We need to fix small patches. We have been forging partnership but also getting collapsed after that. Be it at the top order of middle order—we need to control that. We were in the situation where we could have won all four matches. Losing from these stages shows where we are and the need for improvements."
Nepal's coach Pubudu Dassanayake was equally disappointed with the defeat. "Losing is very hard especially when you have the game in your hand. It is disappointing when you make enough mistakes to lose the game. But we still have 20 games to play. There are lots of little things we need to fix and we will not give up until we are there (top three)," said Dassanayake.
"We didn’t win the important time periods and failed to proceed at the key times. That is the main reason that we are in this position at this moment. There is nothing from the pitch for spinners but the positives are that batters came through," added the Canadian coach. "We are winning two games in every tour and we could have won three or four games in the Series."
Nepal made a convincing start with the ball and removed opener Steven Taylor, who had scored a century in their last match on Saturday, on one run. They also got rid of number three batter and captain Monank Patel, the scorer of 85 runs in the last game, on four runs. The duo had shared 200-run stand against in the tied match. Both of them were dismissed in a delivery by Karan KC, also the player-of-the-series.
But half centuries from Sushant Modani and middle order batter Gajanand Singh and some decent contributions from Aaron Jones and Saiteja Mukkamalla anchored the US innings.
Opener Modani, who scored 54 runs off 83, also shared an 88-run stand for the third wicket with Jones. He cracked seven fences before being caught by Dev Khanal at long off in a delivery by captain Lamichhane. Jones played 60-ball 43 that included three fences. He was caught behind by wicketkeeper Aasif Sheikh off Dipendra Singh Airee.
Middle order batter Singh scored 58 runs, the highest of the innings, in his 60-ball knock. He hit five boundaries and a six before he was caught at mid-wicket boundary by Rohit Paudel off Lamichhane. Mukkamalla also made a remarkable contribution of 52-ball 36. Nisarga Patel and Cameron Stevenson remained not out on 18 and 16 runs, respectively.
Nepal's medium pacer Karan KC picked three wickets to take his League 2 wicket tally to 35 wickets from 16 matches. He conceded 67 runs in his nine-over bowling. Captain Lamichhane took two wickets giving away 43 runs in his 10-over spell. Sompal Kami and Airee shared a wicket each.
Nepal made a shaky start to their run chase and kept losing wickets on regular intervals. They were left tottering at 5-93 by the 22nd over before Aarif Sheikh and Sompal Kami led Nepal's fightback with 106-run partnership for the sixth wicket.
Opener Kushal Bhurtel (10) runs and his pair Aasif Sheikh (18) and Rohit Paudel (16) failed to live up to expectations, departing cheaply.
Teenager Dev Khanal tried to resist the US bowling attack, but he got run out in his attempt to collect a second run. Mukammalla's throw from about 70 yards struck the stump. Airee departed for seven runs as the fifth wicket.
But Aarif and Kami gave hope to Nepal. Aarif contributed 63 runs off 76 and Kami scored 72-ball 47. They, however, were dismissed in the space of two balls in the 45th over, triggering a dramatic collapse of Nepal's innings.
Kami struck three fences before being caught by Kenjige in a delivery by Saurabh Netravalkar. Kami was run out two balls later with 7-200 on board at 46.4 overs. Nepal lost the remaining three wickets for six runs.
Oman pacers Saurabh Netravalkar and Ali Khan grabbed three wickets each. Netravalkar conceded 44 runs in nine overs while Ali Khan gave away 32 runs in his 8.4 overs bowling.
Oman, who played all 36 mathes of the League 2 cycle, are on top of the seven-team standings with 44 points while Nepal climbed one spot up to fifth on 15 points from 16 games. The US are fourth on 23 points from 24 games.
The teams finishing on top three positions will qualify for World Cup Qualifiers set for June/July next year and top five teams will retain One-Day International status. The bottom four will have to go through the playoffs for the Qualifiers.