Nepal succumbed to a comprehensive four-wicket defeat against Pakistan ‘A’ in their opening match at the Colombo Cricket Club Ground in Sri Lanka on Friday.

Nepal, who chose to bat first, came up with a poor batting show and seemed to be heading to a meagre total before tailender Sompal Kami scored a half century but the side got bundled out for a mere 179 runs in 37 overs.

Chasing the target, Pakistan made 181-6 in 32.5 overs to claim a comfortable victory with 103 balls to spare.

Nepal’s decision to bat first backfired as they lost batters cheaply at regular intervals and were 72-8 at one stage, before Kami put up a late fightback scoring 75 runs off 101 balls. Coming in to bat at number nine, Kami struck nine hits to the fence along with two sixes. He was caught by wicketkeeper Mohammad Haris off a Shahnawaz Dahani’s delivery, thus becoming the last Nepali wicket to fall.

He shared a 58-run stand for the ninth wicket with Pratish GC, who contributed 26 runs off 24 balls, the second-highest score of the innings. Arjun Saud and Kushal Malla scored 17 runs each while Gulshan Jha (13) and opener Aashif Sheikh (12) too scored in double-digits for Nepal.

Pakistan medium pacer Dahani shone with the ball, claiming five wickets that included the dismissal of Nepal’s three top-order batters – openers Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh and Arjun Saud – apart from the prized wicket of Kami. The man-of-the-match gave away 38 runs in his 10 overs spell that also included three maiden overs.

Mohammad Wasim grabbed four wickets in his 10 overs spell conceding 51 runs.

In the run chase, Tayyab Tahir scored a half century for Pakistan as the top half of their batters made moderate contributions with the bat. Tahir, the highest scorer for Pakistan, scored 51 runs off 67 balls that included six hits to the boundary. Spinner Lalit Rajbanshi had him caught by Pawan Sarraf.

Tahir also shared a 64-run stand for the third wicket with Omair Yousuf who contributed 36 runs off 40 balls. He was caught by wicketkeeper Arjun Saud off a Kushal Malla delivery.

Kamran Ghulam contributed 31 runs off 26 balls while openers Saim Ayub scored 24 runs off 25 and Haseebullah Khan scored 12 runs off 23.

Rajbanshi claimed three wickets for Nepal in his 8.5 overs spell, conceding 50 runs. His spell also included a maiden over. Pawan Sarraf returned with figures of 5-1-15-2.

Nepal, pitted in Group ‘B’, will play their next match against India ‘A’ on Monday and will play against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their last group match on Wednesday.

Nepal are playing without their regular players Dipendra Singh Airee, Sandeep Lamichhane and Aarif Sheikh. While Airee and Lamichhane were in Canada to play the Global T20 tournament, Sheikh pulled out owing to personal reasons.