Nepal has secured a victory against Qatar in the Super Six round of the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifiers. In their second match at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman, Nepal achieved a thrilling five-run win over Qatar.
With this win, Nepal has accumulated 6 points in the Super Six and has further strengthened its chances of qualifying for the World Cup for the second consecutive time and third time overall. Although Nepal and Oman have an equal 6 points in the points table, Nepal is in the second position due to a lower net run rate. Oman, in the first position, also has 6 points.
Invited to bat first after losing the toss, Nepal notched up 147 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs. Chasing a target of 148 runs, Qatar was all out for 142 runs in 19.5 overs.
Nepal's openers Kushal Bhurtel (6) and Asif Sheikh (11) were dismissed early. Captain Rohit Paudel played an inning of 58 runs off 41 balls for Nepal. Additionally, Dipendra Singh Airee contributed 26 runs off 22 balls, and Gulshan Jha made 16 runs off 8 balls. The other batsmen could not achieve significant runs.
In reply, Daniel Archer Maria Louis took 3 wickets for 22 runs in 3 overs, and Mirza Mohammed Baig took an equal 3 wickets for 29 runs in 4 overs. Muhammad Asim Liaqat Ali took 1 wicket for 16 runs in his 3-over spell, but it was not enough for the victory for Qatar.
While chasing the target of 148 runs, Imal Liyanage and Zubair Ali made half-century contributions for Qatar. Imal scored 56 and Zubaid 52 runs. Muhammad contributed 10 runs. Qatar's captain Mirza Muhammad Baig scored 2, Muhammad Tanveer 0, Shahzaib Jamil Ahmad 2, Shariq Munir 0, Daniel Archer 3, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman 8, and Amir Farooq and the not-out Owais Ahmad each took 1 run each. Nepal gifted Qatar 6 wide and 1 leg-bye run.
Qatar stumbled at the end due to Nepal's tight bowling and fielding. Nepal used 7 bowlers against Qatar.
Man of the Match Sandeep Lamichhane took 5 wickets for 18 runs in 3.5 overs. Nandan Yadav also took 2 wickets for 29 runs in 4 overs, and Dipendra Singh Airee claimed 1 wicket.
While these three bowlers took wickets, Sompal Kami, Rohit Paudel, Gulshan Jha, and Adil Ansari went wicketless. In the match against Qatar, Nepal included all-rounder Aadil Alam in place of Lalit Rajbanshi.
In the Super Six, Nepal still has to play against Oman and Samoa. Nepal will play against Oman on Wednesday night at 8:45 pm and against Samoa on Friday afternoon at 4:15 pm.
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