Nepal secured a place in the quarterfinals of the Asian Games men’s cricket in China after a dominant victory over the Maldives by a staggering margin of 138 runs. Nepal, the Group A winner, had previously defeated Mongolia.
In pursuit of Nepal’s target of 213 runs at the Zhejiang University Cricket Ground in Hangzhou, the Maldives lost all their wickets, managing only 74 runs in 19.4 overs. Muviath Ganee was the top scorer for the Maldives with 36 runs.
Nepal’s bowler Abinash Bohara was the standout performer, taking an impressive 6 wickets while conceding just 11 runs in 3.4 overs. Abinash’s performance marked the best spell for Nepal in T20 Internationals, and he became the first Nepalese bowler to claim 6 wickets in T20 Internationals.
Opting to bat after winning the toss, Nepal posted a total of 212 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Nepal managed to score 70 runs in the first 10 overs while losing 4 wickets, but they accelerated their scoring in the final 10 overs, adding 142 runs.
Captain Rohit Paudel was the top contributor for Nepal, scoring 52 runs, achieving his second consecutive half-century. He did so in just 27 balls, hitting 3 fours and 3 sixes. Kushal Malla, who had scored a century against Mongolia in the previous match, remained unbeaten with 47 runs, including 3 fours and 3 sixes. Opener Kushal Bhurtel contributed 35 runs off 18 balls, and Gulsan Jha added 35 runs off 21 balls.
Aasif Sheikh scored 5 runs, Binod Bhandari 13, Sundeep Jora 5, and Dipendra Airee 6. Sompal Kami remained unbeaten with 1 run.
In the Maldives’ bowling attack, Nazwan Ismail claimed the highest 3 wickets.
