The Nepal cricket team’s first World Cup qualifiers match against Zimbabwe was lostby 8 wickets. Nepal gave tough competition to Zimbabwe but were unable to deliver their best bowling performance. The sad part about the match was Kushal Bhurtel missing a well-deserved century by 1 run.
In the second inning, at one point, Nepal didn’t have any chance to come near to winning the game. Before the match, Zimbabwe’s batting order was considered the best compared to Nepal’s. Zimbabwe captain Craig Ervine scored his 5th ODI century, with 121 runs off 128 balls, while Sean Williams scored a quickfire 102 runs off 70 balls.
Gulshan Jha and Sompal Kami took 1 wicket each for Nepal, while Sandeep Lamichhane couldn’t take any wickets.
Before that, Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bowl first. Nepal managed to score 290 runs in 50 overs and lost 8 wickets. Kushal Bhurtel played an inning of 99 off 95 balls, while Aasif Sheikh scored 66 runs off 100 balls. Kushal Bhurtel was bowled out before reaching 100 runs. In the last 8 overs, Nepal lost 6 wickets.
Richard Ngarava of Zimbabwe took 4 wickets, while Wellington Masakadza took 2 wickets.
The man of the match was presented to Zimbabwean captain and opener Craig Ervine for his outstanding knock of 126 runs.
The qualifiers will be held in Zimbabwe from today until July 9. Nepal is one of 10 teams competing in the qualifiers. The top two teams from the qualifiers will qualify for the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, held in India.
The next match for Nepal will be on 20th June against the USA. If Nepal wants to advance to the super six, they desperately need a minimum of 2 wins and a good run rate to secure a spot in the top 6.
