Nepal defeated Afghanistan by five wickets in the preliminary group stage of the 20th Asian Games in Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin, Japan, on Friday.

Nepal defeated Afghanistan in a T20 match for the first time since 2014. Nepal beat Afghanistan by nine runs at the 2014 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh. Later that year, Afghanistan defeated Nepal by eight runs in the quarterfinals of the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

Afghanistan won the toss and elected to bat first, aiming to post a defendable total. However, the Afghan batting order struggled against Nepal’s bowling lineup.

The Rhinos were able to send the top three batsmen of Afghanistan—Hassan Eisakhil (0 off 2), Mohammad Akram (2 off 8) and Karim Janat (9 off 9)—back to the pavilion early. 

Faisal Khan Ahmadzai and Najibullah Zadran contributed 30 runs each, while Nangeyalia Khan stood not out at 17 off 15, as Afghanistan could only manage 102/7 in the first innings.

Kushal Bhurtel picked four and Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi took three wickets for Nepal.

While Bhurtel was outstanding with the ball, he could not have a good day with the bat. Bhurtel’s departure for a duck in the second ball of the first innings mounted pressure on Nepal.

Further, Aasif Sheikh (2 off 4) followed Bhurtel to the dugout in the fourth over.

But Sundeep Jora brought Nepal back to the chase. He smashed 34 off 35, and Rohit Kumar Paudel (33 off 32) and Dipendra Singh Airee (15 off 18) did the rest.

Airee departed with one run remaining to win the match. That last run then came off the bat of Gulshan Kumar Jha as Nepal won by five wickets.

Nepal face Japan on Saturday morning. The match can be watched live on Kantipur Max.