Nepal suffered a defeat against the Netherlands in the final game of the triangular series held in Nepal as part of the ICC World Cup League-2 series.
Nepal was defeated by 8 wickets in the match held at TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur.
The target of 173 runs set by Nepal was chased down by the Netherlands, who lost 2 wickets in 37.5 overs.
Vikramjit Singh of the Netherlands played a half-century innings, scoring 58 runs off 92 balls with 7 fours. Michael Levitt contributed 39 runs, hitting 3 fours and 4 sixes. Opener Max O’Dowd scored 28 runs off 26 balls, including 2 fours and 2 sixes.
For Nepal, Dipendra Singh Airee and Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi took 1 wicket each.
Batting first after losing the toss, Nepal was all out for 172 runs in 49.3 overs.
Nepal’s opener, Kushal Bhurtel, played a half-century innings of 66 runs off 93 balls with 8 fours. This marked his eighth half-century in ODI career, achieved in 77 balls with 5 fours. Bhurtel was dismissed in the 37th over by Van Der Merwe.
Karan KC contributed 26 runs off 27 balls, leading to Nepal’s eventual collapse. Aarif Sheikh scored 22 runs off 50 balls before being bowled out in the 49th over by Vivian Kingma.
Aasif Sheikh, who scored a half-century against Namibia, was the first wicket to fall. Kingma bowled him out in the ninth over who scored 17 runs from 27 deliveries. Anil Shah was the second wicket to fall, dismissed by Kingma after scoring 7 runs off 11 balls. Kushal Malla was out LBW, marking the third wicket loss for Nepal. Captain Paudel was the fourth wicket to fall in the 25th over after scoring 16 runs off 40 balls. Dipendra Singh Airee was run out, becoming the fifth wicket to fall. Bhim Sarki was the sixth wicket to fall in the 30th over. Gulsan Jha scored 5 runs off 17 balls before being dismissed as the eighth wicket in the 43rd over. Aryan Dutt took the wicket of Karan KC, the tenth wicket to fall. Karan and Arif Sheikh shared a partnership of 36 runs for the ninth wicket.
For the Netherlands, Aryan Dutt and Vivian Kingma took 3 wickets each, while Bas de Leede took 2 wickets and Roelof Van Der Merwe took 1 wicket.
In the triangular series, Nepal managed to win just one game against the Netherlands. With this victory, the Netherlands secured second place in the World Cup League Two, while Nepal finished third with 2 points.
