Cricket
UAE post 177-run target for Nepal
Despite impressive performance by Nepali bowlers bagging UAE wickets at regular intervals, the last wicket 83-run partnership from Aayan Afzal Khan and Hazrat Bilal held the visitors' innings together.Post Report
The United Arab Emirates have posted a 177-run target for Nepal in the third match of the bilateral One-Day International Series played at the TU cricket ground in Kirtipur on Friday.
Nepal won the toss and called the visitors to bat first. UAE played all 50 overs to score 176 runs losing nine wickets.
An impressive performance by Nepali bowlers struck the UAE’s batting order in the initial overs with opener Muhammed Wasim being caught behind by Aasif Sheikh off Gulsan Jha’s delivery in 1.2 overs for 11 runs.
Capitalising on the good start, Sompal Kami bowled Vriitya Aravind for a duck in the third over. Jha came back to bowl and bagged the wicket of UAE skipper Chundangapoyii Rizwan in the very first ball of the fourth over. Rizwan contributed four runs for his team.
Rohan Mustafa and Alishan Sharafu tried to stabalise the visitor’s innings but both of them were sent back in the span of two overs. Mustafa was caught by Kushal Bhurtel off Dipendra Singh Airee’s delivery in 23.2 overs after scoring 24 runs while Sharafu, who scored 33 runs off 69 deliveries, was bowled by Bhurtel in 25.4 overs.
Nepal was in a good position until the 32nd over when Zahoor Khan was run out for a duck and needed just a wicket to restrict the visitors to a low total.
However, UAE’s Aayan Afzal Khan and Hazrat Bilal stuck to the crease and created an 83-run partnership. Khan scored 54 runs off 63 deliveries while Bilal contributed 20 runs to the scoreboard. Both of them remained not out.
For Nepal, Jha, Airee and Bhurtel took two wickets each while Kami and Lalit Rajbanshi bagged one wicket each.