Nepal began their tour of Hong Kong in a disappointing fashion as they lost the Hong Kong Men’s T20I series Friendship Cup against the hosts by 73 runs at the Mission Road Ground in Mong Kok, Hong Kong on Saturday.

Hong Kong, invited to bat first after losing the toss, posted a big total of 212-6 in the allotted 20 overs, thanks to Babar Hayat ton.

In the chase, Nepal were all out for 139 in 16.4 overs.

Coach Monty Desai rested regular starters Aasif Sheikh, Anil Sah, Sompal Kami, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee and Lalit Rajbanshi and fielded a largely second string side for the Hong Kong tour.

Kushal Bhurtel kept his place in the squad but his poor form in the T20Is continued as the opener departed for a cheap two in the second over. Bhurtel has only managed 34 runs in his last five innings.

Captain Rohit Paudel added 62 runs with Bhurtel’s opening partner Binod Bhandari—who was playing his first T20I since October last year—for the second wicket and 53 runs with Aarif Sheikh for the third wicket to build Nepal innings.

Bhandari scored 42 runs off 22 balls before Nasrulla Rana had him caught by Hayat in the seventh over.

Nepal were well-placed at 117-2 after 11 overs but suddenly ran out of steam, losing eight wickets for just 22 runs.

Aizaz Khan was the pick of Hong Kong bowling with a match figures of 4-26 that included the wickets of Paudel (30 off 23 balls) and Sheikh (38 off 21 balls).

Sundeep Jora (2), Gulsan Jha (8), Bibek Yadav (1), Rashid Khan (3), Pratis GC (0), Aakash Chand (2) all failed to touch double digit figures as Nepal were bowled out for 139.

Ehsan Khan took 3-26, while Ateeq Iqbal and Rana picked one wicket each for Hong Kong.

Earlier, Hong Kong made a slow start to their innings, losing opener and captain Nizakat Khan for a duck.

Hong Kong were at 34-2 when they lost their other opener Martin Coetzee for 31 in the fifth over.

But Hayat made Nepal bowlers sweat with his aggressive batting, hitting three fours and 13 sixes in his 49-ball 110 knock.

Hayat put on a 76-run stand with Anshy Rath, who made 39 runs off 32 balls, and added 95 runs with Aizaz to guide Hong Kong to 212-6. Aizaz was not out on 21 runs.

Karan KC watched from the dugout handing T20I debut cap to Aakash Chand. Chand, who made his ODI debut during the home series against Canada last month, took three wickets.

Fast bowler Rashid and spinner Sagar Dhakal also marked their return to the squad.

Rashid pocketed one wicket, while Sheikh and GC also bagged one for Nepal.

Nepal will play Hong Kong again on Sunday in the first match of the Hong Kong T20I Tri-Series, which also involves Papua New Guinea.

The Rhinos will next face PNG on Tuesday.

The top two teams of the single round-robin tournament will compete in the final on Wednesday.