Gulsan Jha scored a half-century and took five wickets but that was not quite enough to end Nepal’s winless streak as the Rhinos succumbed to a one-wicket defeat against Oman in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 in King City on Thursday.

The outcome means Nepal have now suffered five losses—four in a row—in six matches and stay in the seventh position in the eight-team League 2 standings. Their only win of the League 2 came in February at the TU Cricket Ground during the inaugural Tri-Series (involving the Netherlands and Namibia) against the Dutch, who now lead the table with 12 points after six wins and two losses.

Nepal were looking to bounce back from their first ever one-day international defeat against Canada on Monday and showed some improvements, with their captain Rohit Paudel also finding firm after dismal innings in his previous four outings.

Nepal, invited to bat first after losing the toss, made a shaky start to their innings as they lost Arjun Saud (5), who opened in place of out-of-form Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (11) and Bhim Sharki (11) cheaply and were scratching their head at 31-3 after 13.1 overs.

But Paudel scored a half-century and rebuilt the innings with Aarif Sheikh, who came to bat first for the first time since Nepal’s second leg loss against the Netherlands in February, to take the total past 100.

After Aarif fell to Shakeel Ahmed, who was making his ODI debut, in the 36.3 overs making 35 runs off 88 balls, Paudel departed playing 72-ball 60 that included two fours and four sixes.

Jha, promoted to number six, then continued the revival scoring 53 runs off 35 balls. His aggressive knock featured three boundaries and five maximums.

Sompal Kami then smashed quick 20 off eight balls at the end to guide Nepal to 220-9 from 50 overs.

This was also the first time Nepal have crossed the 200-run mark in the League 2 this edition.

In response, Kashyap Prajapati (36 off 52) and Jatinder Singh (41 off 49) added 75 runs for the opening wicket to give Oman a solid start.

Sandeep Lamichhane finally ended their stand in the 17th over trapping Singh lbw and Aarif dispatched Prajapati in the 20th over to halt the Oman progress.

Jha then returned with the ball and dismissed Oman captain Aqib Ilyas for 29 and Aayan Khan for nine.

Karan KC next took the wickets of Pratik Athavale (26) and Khalid Kail (17).

Jha then sent back Shoaib Khan (26) and Fayaaz Butt (8), and bowled a maiden over in the 48th over that also included the wicket of Jay Odedra (5), leaving Oman needing 10 runs from the final two overs with one wicket remaining.

Karan KC gave away just two runs in the 49th over but Shakeel and Kaleemullah robbed Sompal Kami with two fours to lead Oman to 223-9.

Jha finished his 10-over spell with 5-47 that also included two maidens.

The victory gave Oman their second win in five matches and put them in sixth position with five points.

Nepal next play Canada on Sunday and Oman on Tuesday in the reverse fixtures of the Canada Tri-Series.