UAE crush Nepal by 7 wickets
Kathmandu / Dec 6: Brilliant batting performance from skipper Rohan Mustafa and Ghulam Shabbir helped UAE beat Nepal comfortably by 7 wickets in the final round matches of the ICC World Cricket League Championship (WCLC) on Wednesday.
In the match played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, UAE invited Nepal to bat first and bundled them out for 221 runs in the allotted 50 overs.
Sharad Bheswakar scored highest 81 runs off 95 balls hitting five fours for Nepal. This is the highest score of Bheswakar in the championship. Similarly, Gyanendra Malla contributed 54 runs off 83 balls hitting six fours and Sompal Kami and Dilip Nath scored 20 runs and 16 runs respectively. Similarly, Basanta Regmi scored an unbeaten 14 runs while other batsmen could not make runs in double digit.
Bheswakar and Sandip Lamichhane claimed one wicket each for Nepal.
Chasing the target of 22 runs, UAE made 225 runs in 45.5 overs with Ghulam Shabbir’s unbeaten 81 runs off 116 balls with eight fours, while skipper Rohan Mustafa contributed 62 runs off 71 balls hitting seven fours and one six.
The next match will be held on Friday.
With the victory, UAE will climb to the seventh spot with eight points while Nepal will sit at the sixth spot with nine points.
The outcome of the matches will not make any difference in the eight-team table as Nepal and UEA have already been relegated.