Nepal’s brilliant win against Malaysia, the second consecutive half century of Kushal

KATHMANDU: As Kushal Bhurtel scored his second consecutive half century, Nepal got a great victory over Malaysia in a T20I match played at Kirtipur Cricket Ground on Monday.

Nepal defeated Malaysia by 9 wickets for the second consecutive victory in the tri-nations T20 series. Along with the victory, Nepal has also avenged the defeat in the ACC Eastern Region T20 in Thailand last year.

Nepal met the target of 110 runs given by Malaysia at the Kirtipur Cricket Ground by losing 1 wicket in 12.1 overs. Nepal’s opening pair Kushal Bhurtel and Asif Sheikh gave a good start. Both shared 102 runs.

In that process, Kushal scored a half century. This is his second consecutive half century. He scored 62 runs in his T20 International debut against the Netherlands.

Asif added 42 runs off 29 balls with four fours and a six before being caught by Birandeep Singh. Kushal, who faced 41 balls, remained unbeaten on 61 runs with three fours and five sixes while Dipendra Singh Airee remained unbeaten on six runs.

Earlier, after losing the toss, Malaysia lost all their wickets in 16.5 overs and managed to score 109 runs only. Aziz, the opener for Malaysia, scored the most 29 runs. Facing 24 balls, he struck four fours and a six. Similarly, Sharvin Niendy added 20 runs while Shafiq Sharif scored 15 runs. The rest of the players could not add runs in double figures.

Even though Malaysia started well, the Nepali bowlers mounted pressure and took wickets in a regular interval.

For Nepal, Karan KC took 3 wickets for 17 runs in 3 overs. Sandeep Lamichhane took 2 wickets for 25 runs in 3.5 overs while Sompal Kami, Dipendra Singh Airee, Shahab Alam and Kushal Malla took one wicket each.

Nepal will play its second match against the Netherlands on Tuesday.

The organizing committee has informed that no fans are allowed in Kirtipur Cricket Ground for Tuesday’s match due to possible outbreak of coronavirus.