Kathmandu: In its third match of the ICC World Cup Qualifiers, Nepal was defeated by West Indies. In the game against Zimbabwe, Nepal was defeated by 101 runs.
Chasing West Indies’ massive target of 340 runs, Nepal lost all its wickets in 49.4 overs, scoring 238 runs. For Nepal, Aarif Sheikh played a brilliant half-century, scoring 63 runs, but couldn’t lead the team to victory. Right from the start, Nepal kept losing wickets, but Aarif partnered with Gulshan Jha to contribute 68 runs. Gulshan scored 42 runs before getting out. Similarly, captain Rohit Kumar Paudel scored 30 runs, Asif Sheikh scored 28, and Dipendra Singh Airee scored 23 runs before getting dismissed. In the end, Karan KC made 28 runs off 27 balls. Jason Holder took 3 wickets for West Indies, while Alzarri Joseph, Akeal Hosein, and Chemar Holder took 2 wickets each.
Previously, batting first, West Indies scored 339 runs, losing 7 wickets in the allotted 50 overs. West Indies’ captain, Shai Hope, and Nicholas Pooran played a century partnership. Hope and Pooran shared a partnership of 216 runs, with Hope scoring 129 runs off 116 balls, including 10 fours and 3 sixes. He hit 10 fours and 3 sixes. He was dismissed by Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi. Similarly, Pooran scored 115 runs off 94 balls, hitting 10 fours and 4 sixes, before getting out to Dipendra Singh Airee. Nepal started well, taking West Indies’ two wickets for just 30 runs in the first powerplay. In the fifth over, Karan KC dismissed opener Kjorn Ottley for 1 run. In the first ball of the fifth over, Gulshan Jha got rid of Johnson Charles.
For the third wicket, Brandon King and captain Shai Hope contributed 46 runs in 68 balls. This partnership attempted to bring West Indies back into the game. However, Brandon King was dismissed by Sandeep Lamichhane after contributing 32 runs off 42 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes. Rovman Powell scored 29 runs off 14 balls, and Jason Holder scored 16 runs. Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, Karan KC, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sandeep Lamichhane, and Gulshan Jha took one wicket each for Nepal.
With this result, Nepal has two losses and one win in three matches and is currently in fourth place in the points table based on run rate. Netherlands is ahead of Nepal based on run rate. Now, for Nepal to qualify for the Super Six, they need to win their last match against the Netherlands, and the Netherlands also needs to lose their last match against West Indies. If Nepal loses to the Netherlands, they will be knocked out from the group stage.