Nepal defeat Maldives to enter quarterfinals
October 1, 2023 | SportsGuff Team 8.7K Reads
Match Summary
Nepal 212/7 (Rohit Paudel 52, Kushal Malla 47*, Nazwan Ismail 3-17)
beat
Maldives 74 (Muaviath Ganee 36, Abhinash Bohara 6-11)
by 138 runs
Nepal defeated Maldives to enter the quarterfinals of the ongoing 19th Asian Games. Abinash Bohara picked up 6 wickets to guide Nepal to victory.
In the second match of Group A held at the Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket Field on Sunday, Nepal secured their place in the last eight as they defeated Maldives by 138 runs.
Nepal will now play a team among India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the quarterfinals. These five teams directly reached the quarterfinals, while three teams along with Nepal will pass the first stage and reach the quarterfinals.
Chasing the target of 213 runs against Nepal, Maldives were bowled out for 74 runs in 19.4 overs. For Maldives, Muewiyath Abdul Ghani scored 36 runs and Sius Farid scored 10 runs, while others could not even reach double figures.
Nepal's fast bowler Abinash Bohara took 6 wickets conceeding just 11 runs from 3.4 overs. Abhinash has also become the first Nepali bowler to take 6 wickets in a single match in T20 Internationals. Earlier, Nepal's Sandeep Lamichhane and Karan KC took 5 wickets in the same match.
Sompal Kami, Gulshan Jha, Sandeep Lamichhane and Kushal Bhurtel shared a wicket each.
Nepal, who won the toss and batted first, scored 212 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Skipper Rohit Paudel scored 52 runs with three sixes and three fours from 27 balls. Kushal Malla, who set the record for the fastest century against Mongolia in the first match, contributed unbeaten 47 runs including two sixes and three fours from 20 balls.
Kushal Bhurtel and Gulshan Jha scored 35/35 runs each while Binod Bhandari was dismissed for 13 runs. Other batters could not score double runs.
