Sports
Nepal climb to fifth after win over Oman
KC and Lamichhane combine to grab eight wickets while Bhurtel and Sheikh score fifties in a seven-wicket victory.Prajwal Oli
Nepal cricket team's strength, traditionally, lies in their bowling. That traditional strength, however, seemed to have waned lately. But on Tuesday, pacer Karan KC and captain Sandeep Lamichhane's brilliance with ball not only kept Oman under pressure but also instilled confidence on batters to 'perform freely' in the US Triangular Series of the ICC World Cup League 2.
KC grabbed five wickets and leg spinner Lamichhane clinched three before a century partnership between openers Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh gave Nepal seven wicket win over Oman—their first victory in the US Series.
Invited to bowl first, Nepal bundled out Oman for 163 runs in 46.5 overs at the flat pitch of the Moosa cricket ground in Pearland, Houston. In the run chase, the openers cracked half centuries each and also stitched Nepal's first century partnership for the opening wicket in One-Day International (ODI) as they made 167-3 in 33.1 overs with a winning boundary from Dipendra Singh Airee.
The win lifted Nepal one spot ahead to fifth in the seven-team standings. Nepal have 15 points from as many matches while Oman, who played their 36th match, the last game of the Series, occupy top position on 44 points. The US are fourth on 21 points from 23 matches.
Nepal had lost to the same opponents by 13 runs in the Series opener on Thursday before sharing points against hosts US on Saturday following a dramatic last-ball tie.
"Our bowling unit has been the major strength in the whole Series. The bowlers did well in the first and second match as well," said Nepal captain Lamichhane. "Though the wicket is batter friendly, we did exceptionally well with the ball."
Lamichhane added, "The bowling strength has also been helping batting. But it is unfortunate that we have not been able to finish properly with the bat."
Pacer KC and Lamichhane are among the leading wicket takers for Nepal in the League 2 Series. The player-of-the-match KC, who also claimed five wickets against Oman in the first leg of Series on June 9, is joint fifth among the highest wicket takers with 32 scalps from 15 matches of League 2. Captain Lamichhane is eighth with 29 wickets.
Though both of them are far behind leading wicket taker Bilal Khan of Oman who has picked 76 wickets, he has already played all 36 games in comparison to Nepal’s 15.
"As the wicket here is batting friendly, the plan was to give less runs to the opponents," said KC, adding that he just tried to follow the basics of bowling. "They came under pressure after we executed our plans and gave away the wickets."
Sheikh smashed 62 runs and Bhurtel scored 56 runs before the duo shared 114-run stand for the opening wicket, the highest first-wicket partnership for Nepal in ODI. It was also the second highest partnership overall for Nepal following Dipendra Singh Airee and Dev Khanal's 129-run stand for the third wicket against Papua New Guinea (PNG) in March.
Bhurtel, the first wicket to fall, cracked five fences in his 75-ball knock before being caught at mid-wicket by captain Zeeshan Maqsood in a delivery by Fayyaz Butt. It was his second successive half century after scoring 61 runs against the US on Saturday.
Sheikh contributed 62-ball 86 that included seven fences and a maximum. He was caught at deep square leg by Khan in Butt's delivery.
Dev Khanal was out on 10 runs as he was trapped leg before by Khawal Ali. Rohit Paudel remained unbeaten on 26 runs off 21 comprising a boundary and a six. Airee was unbeaten on six runs.
Earlier, electing to bat first Oman lost wickets at quick succession in regular interval. They were 5-49 before captain Maqsood, who had also scored a century against Nepal in the first game of the Series of Thursday, came to their rescue with a half century.
Coming at number four, Maqsood contributed 52 runs off 100 deliveries and also shared an 83-run stand for the sixth wicket with Sandeep Goud. The skipper hit three boundaries and was trapped leg before by all-rounder Dipendra Singh Airee in the 42nd over.
Goud scored 47 runs in his patient knock off 91 balls that included three boundaries and a maximum. He was caught by captain Sandeep Lamichhane at mid-wicket in a delivery by medium pacer KC.
Opener Jatinder Singh contributed 26-ball 23 while Naseem Khushi (10) and Fayyaz Butt (not out 13) were the other Omani batters to touch double digit figures.
Medium pacer KC was the most successful bowler for Nepal claiming second five-wickets in a row against Oman. He conceded 33 runs in his nine overs bowling. Captain Lamichhane grabbed three wickets in his 10-over spell giving away 47 runs. Sompal Kami and Airee picked one wicket each.