Kathmandu, October 30
Nepal have kicked off their T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier with an 8-wicket win over Singapore at the TU Cricket Ground on Monday.
Winning the toss and batting first, Singapore got off to a poor start losing their captain and opener Aritra Dutta in the second ball of the innings. An explosive batting performance from Rohan Rangarajan provided the Singaporean team with a strong foundation, as he aggressively took on the Nepali bowlers, scoring 22 runs off Abinash Bohara in a single over.
The momentum, however, was broken by Sandeep Lamichhane and Gulshan Jha who picked up two wickets each reducing Singapore to 70 for five.
Aryaveer Chaudhary and Manpreet Singh settled the innings but the Nepali bowlers kept piling on the pressure as Nepal restricted Singapore to 145 in the allotted 20 overs. Bohora picked up three wickets in the end to round off an indifferent performance from him.
In reply, Nepal were off to a flyer with Kushal Bhurtel punishing the Singapore bowlers. Bhurtel was supported by Aasif Sheikh who could not make the most of the start as he was bowled for 27 putting a 84-run stand.
Bhurtel however, continued his momentum taking the attack to the Singaporean bowlers scoring an impressive 74 in 48 balls before holding out to Anantha Krishna.
The game was finished off by Rohit Paudel who scored an unbeaten 35 to give Nepal their first win of the T20 World Cup Asia qualifiers.
