Kushal Bhurtel was the second opener to pick up injury after Aasif Sheikh was injured in the first practice match on Thursday.

Nepal pulled off a morale-boosting 29-run win over locals Houston Hurricanes in the second and final practice match on Saturday ahead of the US Triangular Series of the ICC World Cricket League 2 at the Prairie View in Huston.

But injury to another opener Kushal Bhurtel adding to already injured opening partner Aasif Sheikh came as a huge blow to visiting Nepal before the Series kicks off on June 8.

Stand-in captain Rohit Kumar Paudel’s century coupled with pacer Sompal Kami’s five wicket haul as Nepal, put to bat first, were bowled out for 250 runs before they defended the target restricting Hurricanes to 221 runs in 43.3 overs.

However, similar to the first game, the second practice match also became costly for Nepal. Opener Bhurtel picked leg injury during fielding while Sheikh has been nursing his knee injury after he was hit by a ball while batting against Nepal All Stars on Thursday.

As a cover up for both of the injured openers, coach Pubudu Dassanayake has decided to call veteran Subash Khakurel. “Both of them have slight injuries and are under recovery for the next few days,” said the coach. “We can only know about their situation in the next three or four days. We are going to put them under rehabilitation and monitor them closely. However, they both have a chance of recovery for match day.”

Third choice opener Sunil Dhamala is now almost certain to take up the role for the League 2 series. “We still have confidence on Dhamala if needed,” Dassanayake said after the match on Saturday. “We will discuss the alternative opener tonight and most probably bring one more player from Nepal."

Later in the morning, issuing a press statement, CAN announced to call Khakurel to the US as a cover up for the injuries of openers. “Mr Khakurel was part of the intra-squad practice matches played in Kathmandu during recent camp and his performance with both, bat and gloves, were satisfactory,” reads the statement.

According to the Cricket Association of Nepal, Khakurel has already obtained a US visa with the team and had flown from Kathmandu on Sunday.

Nepal made a shaky start to their innings and lost three wickets early on. Opener Bhurtel was out for one run facing eight deliveries and his partner Dhamala departed for 13 runs off 16. Number three batter Dev Khanal departed for 19 runs with 3-38 on board. But vice captain Paudel, who took captain responsibility after regular skipper Sandeep Lamichhane was rested, anchored Nepal’s innings.

Paudel played a 60-run partnership with Dipendra Singh Airee for the fourth wicket and a 108-run stand the following wicket with Aarif Sheikh before he was run out. Airee contributed 24 off 35 before he was caught by wicketkeeper Usman Rafiq off Harmeet Singh. He hit three fences and a six.

Paudel smashed 101 runs in his 90-ball knock before his dismissal. He clobbered five fences and four sixes in his 90 ball knock to depart at 5-206. Aarif Sheik was the other major contributor scoring 41 off 63. He was caught by Saqlain Haider in a delivery by Mohammed Illyas. Binod Bhandari (4), Karan KC (12), Sushan Bhari (5) and Sagar Dhakal (2) were out cheaply while Kishor Mahato remained not out on eight runs.

After winning the game, Paudel, the-man-of-the-match, said it was a good feeling to score a century and win the match under his first captaincy for the national side. “It is a sign of good luck ahead of the tournament proper and there was a good team effort,” he said. “Overall we played a good innings.”

Illyas was the pick of bowling for Hurricanes claiming five wickets in his 10-over spell. He conceded 64 runs. Singh grabbed two wickets and Hassan Rashid picked one.

Despite Nepal putting up a fighting total, coach Dassanayake was concerned with his team's opening woes. “We were exposed in both the games and losing early wickets is one of the main things to be concerned about,” he said. “There are many areas we need to get better going into the series and it is good to have a win and keep moving forward.”

Dassanayake however, said there were lots of positives to draw from the game. “We had a good partnership in batting and the fast bowlers performed really well. Sagar Dhakal and Kishor Mahato were good with the ball and we were able to defend the total without Lamichhane. I am happy how Dev Khanal is shaping up. I think he is ideal for number three and looking forward to playing bigger roles in the coming days."

He was also critical with his bowling unit. “We keep saying we are a good bowling unit and bowlers have also won some of the games. But we are still not up the way I want,” he said. “We still need to get better.”

Chasing the target, Hurricanes also made a shaky start to their innings and were 5-86 at a moment. But Ninad Nimbalkar, who came to bat at number five, lifted the innings for the home team and was just one run shy of century before he was bowled as last wicket by medium pacer Kami.

Nimbalkar hit 12 fences and two sixes in his 81 ball knock. South African opener Andries Gous and Pakistani Rameez Raza Junior were other remarkable contributors for the home team. Gous contributed 28 off 29 that included six boundaries and Raza hit 27-ball 29 comprising a maximum and five fences.

Lower middle order's Gourav Bajaj (15), captain Usman Rafiq (12) and Nitish Kumar (10) were other batters to score in double digit.

Kami was the pick of Nepal's bowling dismissing five batters. He conceded 38 runs in his 8.3 overs bowling. Left arm spinner Sagar Dhakal and medium pacer Kishor Mahato returned with two wickets each. Dhakal conceded 26 runs in his eight overs spell and Mahato 51 runs in his 10 overs.

Nepal is scheduled to play against Oman in the US Triangular Series on June 9 and June 14 and the US on June 11 and June 15.

The two practice matches were organised by Nepali All Stars under coordination with the NRN USA chapter.