Kathmandu, April 18: Nepal has had a good start under the ACC Men’s Premier cricket tournament. Nepal defeated Malaysia by 6 wickets in the opening match at TU cricket ground in Kirtipur. Bhim Sharki and Kushal Malla played fifty innings for Nepal.
Nepal managed to score the 236 run target in 36.2 overs by losing four wickets. Bhim contributed 71 runs facing 98 balls. He hit 5 fours. Similarly, Kushal Malla remained unbeaten on 70 runs with 5 sixes and 5 fours. Similarly, opening batsman Kushal Bhurtel contributed important 38 runs, and captain Rohit Paudel contributed 42 runs.
Before that, Malaysia, who won the toss and elected to bat first, lost nine wickets in the scheduled 50 overs and scored 235 runs. Captain Ahmad Faiz contributed the most 76 runs for Malaysia. He hit eight fours and one six while playing 95 balls.
Similarly, Virandeep Singh scored 46, Muhammad Amir scored 17, Khizar Hayat scored 22, Syazrul Idrus scored 21, Vijay Unni scored 12 and Syed Aziz scored 13.
On the bowling side, Sompal Kami and Sandeep Lamichhane took three wickets each for Nepal. Similarly, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi took two wickets and Gulsan Jha took one wicket.
The tournament organized by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) will be held from April 18 to May 1. The matches of the tournament will be conducted at the TU ground in Kirtipur and Mulpani. Ten different countries will participate in the competition. Participating countries are divided into two groups.
Group A includes host Nepal, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman. Group B consists of Bahrain, Kuwait, Singapore, Hong Kong and UAE.
The winning team of the final match will qualify for the Asia Cup to be held in coming September.
Nepal’s Kushal Malla was declared as Player of the Match.
