Skipper Rohit Paudel scored an unbeaten 95 runs to give Nepal a two-wicket victory over Scotland in the triangular series of the ICC Men’s World Cup League 2 held at TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur on Tuesday.

Winning the toss, Nepal elected to field first restricting Scotland to 212 runs in 46.1 overs. George Munsey scored 60 runs off 50 balls before he was bowled by Sandeep Lamichhane in 13.5 overs. Matthew Cross scored 42 runs, Brandon McMullen hit another 31 while opener Kyle Coetzer and Christopher McBride put up 22 runs each on the board.

For Nepal, Lamichhane took four Scotland wickets while Karan KC bagged another three. Lalit Rajbanshi and Kushal Malla claimed one wicket each for Nepal.

In response, Nepal’s top batting order crumbled with opener Kushal Bhurtel returning back to the pavilion in 1.1 overs scoring just one run. Aashif Sheikh was the next to go on 12 runs in 6.5 overs with 19 runs on the board. Former Captain Gyanendra Malla scored 21 runs before being trapped leg-before in 10.3 overs as the score read 3-34.

Captain Paudel then took charge. He smashed seven fences and four sixes in his unbeaten 101-ball knock. He shared an unbeaten 75-run partnership for the ninth wicket with tailender Karan KC, who scored 31 runs off 37 deliveries. It was also the highest ninth-wicket partnership for Nepal in One-Day International.

Scotland’s Mark Watt claimed three wickets followed by Chris Greaves who took two Nepali wickets while McMullen, Safyaan Sharif and Michael Leaask took one wicket each for their team.