Nepal national women’s cricket team lost their opening match of the ACC Women’s Emerging Teams Cup T20 match, going down by nine runs against Pakistan ‘A’ at the Mission Road Ground in Mong Kok, Hong Kong on Tuesday.

Inviting Pakistan to bat first, Nepal bowled them out for 87 runs with four balls to spare, but were restricted to 78-6 in their run chase after a poor show with the bat.

Nepal, drawn in Group ‘A’, will play against India ‘A’ in their second match of the campaign and will wrap up the group round, locking horns with fellow associate side Hong Kong, on Saturday. Group ‘B’ consists of Bangladesh ‘A’, Sri Lanka ‘A’, United Arab Emirates and Malaysia.

The event features second-tier national teams of the Test countries and national teams of the associate sides. Top two sides of each group will make it to the semi-final.

Pakistan opener Shawaal Zulfiqar contributed 28 runs off 36 balls, the highest of the game, that included a boundary. Lower middle- order batter Fatima Sana, also the captain, scored 16 runs off 23 balls. Sadaf Shamas (12 runs) and Gull Feroza (11 runs) were the other Pakistani players to register double-digit scores.

Nepal’s Indu Barma was the pick of their bowling, claiming three wickets. She conceded six runs in her three-over spell, which included a maiden over. Kabita Kunwar, Kabita Joshi and Sita Rana Magar shared two wickets each.

Chasing the target, Nepal lost wickets cheaply at regular intervals. Opener Kabita Kunwar, who contributed 20 runs off 32 balls, and middle order batter Kabita Joshi, who scored an unbeaten 15 runs off 17 balls, were the only batters to reach double digits. Kunwar was named the player-of-the-match for her exploits with both bat and ball.

Kunwar hit two boundaries before she was stumped in the 12th over by wicketkeeper Najiha Alvi. Joshi, who came in to bat at number seven, hit a four in her unbeaten knock. Jyoti Pandey remained unbeaten on nine runs.

Pakistan bowler Syeda Aroob Shah and Tuba Hassan pocketed two wickets each. Shah conceded 16 runs in her four-over spell, while Hassan gave away 23 runs, bowling as many overs. Anosha Nasir and Umme-e-Hani picked up a wicket each.