Kathmandu, March 9: Nepal has defeated visiting Papua New Guinea by 52 runs today under the ICC World Cup League-2 match played at TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur on Thursday. Chasing the winning target of 298 runs given by Nepal, PNG was bowled out in 47.1 overs on 245 runs on board.
For PNG, Tony Ura played a half-century of 50 runs off 44 balls, while Norman Vanua played a half-century of 60 runs off 55 balls. Assad Vala added 42 runs off 53 balls. Similarly, Kiplin Doriga scored 26 runs off 34 balls and Charles Amini scored 14 runs off 43 balls.
For Nepal, Sandeep Lamichhane took four wickets, Dipendra Singh Airee took two wickets and Kushal Malla took one wicket.
Before that, after losing the toss and being invited to bat first, Nepal lost all the wickets in 49.1 overs and made a total of 297 runs. This was the highest score ever made by Nepal in a one day cricket format. Nepal had scored 287 runs earlier.
Nepal’s opening batsman Aasif Sheikh contributed the most 110 runs. He hit two sixes and 12 fours while playing 110 balls. This was the first ODI century of Aasif’s international cricket career. Aasif became the fifth player from Nepal to score a century in ODIs. Earlier, the former captain of the national cricket team, Paras Khadka, Rohit Paudel, Dipendra Singh Airee and Kushal Bhurtel had scored centuries.
Similarly, Asif has also completed 1000 runs in his ODI career. He became the second player from Nepal to complete 1000 runs. Earlier, Nepal’s Rohit Paudel had completed 1000 runs in ODIs.
Another batsman Kushal Bhurtel contributed 45 runs in today’s match. He scored 45 runs off 56 balls with 6 fours. Aasif Sheikh and Kushal Bhurtel shared a century partnership of 110 runs for the first wicket.
Rohit Poudel was caught for 30 runs off 39 balls with 2 fours and 1 six. Similarly, Gyanendra Malla added 11 runs while Dipendra Singh Airee was dismissed for 7 runs. Similarly, Bhim Sarki scored 44 runs, Aarif Sheikh scored 15 runs, Karan KC scored eight runs, Sandeep Lamichhane scored seven runs, and Sompal Kami scored four runs.
On the bowling side, Semo Kamea of Papua New Guinea alone took five wickets, Riley Hekure took three wickets and Elio Nao took one wicket.
