Nepal registered their first win, defeating the United States of America by six wickets, in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers being held at the Takashinga Sports Club in Harare, Zimbabwe on Tuesday.

Sent to bat first after losing the toss, Nepal bowled out USA for 207 runs in 49 overs and chased the target in 43 overs losing four wickets.

Nepal lost its first wicket as Aasif Sheikh, who scored 12 runs, was trapped leg-before by Saurabh Netravalkar in 4.6 overs.

Losing an early wicket, opener Kushal Bhurtel and Bhim Sharki, who came in third to bat, stabilised the Nepali innings. Bhurtel scored 39 runs and was caught and bowled by Nosthush Kenjige in 16.2 overs.

Sharki showed his prowess with the bat and scored an unbeaten 77 runs in 114 deliveries with the help of one six and seven boundaries.

Skipper Rohit Paudel scored 16 runs on the board and was caught by Jasdeep Singh off Nisarg Patel’s delivery in 26.1 overs. Kushal Malla was the next Nepali batter to go as he was caught by Gajanand Singh off Steven Taylor’s delivery in 32.2 overs.

Dipendera Singh Airee then entered the crease and built a match-winning 74-run partnership with Sharki.

Airee scored an unbeaten 39 runs in 32 balls with the help of one six and five boundaries.

Earlier in the match, the USA’s opening lineup had crumbled against the Nepali bowling attack, losing early wickets in quick succession.

Opener Steven Taylor was trapped leg before by medium KC in 1.5 overs and in the very next delivery, Saiteja Mukkamalla was caught by Aarif Sheikh.

KC claimed his third wicket dismissing USA skipper Aaron Jones after he was caught by Bhurtel in 7.5 overs. Two overs later he sent Kenjige packing making him caught by Sheikh in 9.2 overs.

The USA scoreline at the end of 10 overs was 19-4.

Gajanand Singh and Sushant Modani tried their best to hold the USA’s innings but Nepal got a breakthrough in 21.3 overs as Singh was caught by Sheikh off Airee’s delivery. Singh scored 26 runs for his team.

Modani, who had entered the crease along with Taylor, scored 42 runs facing 71 deliveries and was bowled out by Lalit Rajbanshi in 27.4 overs.

Wicketkeeper Shayan Jahangir scored an unbeaten century, smashing three sixes and 10 boundaries, helping the Americans put up 207 runs in the stipulated 50 overs.

Patel put eight runs on the board for the USA before being caught by Aasif Sheikh off Gulshan Jha’s delivery in 36.4 overs. Jessy Singh scored 12 runs and was caught by Rohit Paudel off Airee’s delivery in 43.2 overs.

In the 49th over, Jha claimed the wickets of tailenders Netravalkar and Kyle Phillip. Netravalkar scored four runs before being bowled in 48.4 overs while Phillip failed to open his account and was trapped leg-before by Jha two deliveries later.

KC was the most successful bowler for Nepal as he claimed four wickets while Gulshan Jha claimed three American scalps, Airee grabbed two wickets and Rajbanshi managed to take a wicket in his 10-over spell.