Rohit Paudel (33* from 32 balls), Sundeep Jora (34 from 35 balls) and captain Dipendra Singh Airee (15 from 18) led the show with the bat to chase down a modest 103 against a second-string Afghanistan side in a five-wicket win. It was a strong chase from Nepal despite having lost both of their openers, Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh, early. Afghanistan left-arm seamer Faridoon Dawoodzai dismissed Bhurtel for a duck, while right-arm speedster Abdullah Ahmadzai got Aasif caught for two.
Earlier, leg-spinner Kushal Bhurtel and left-arm finger spinner Lalit Rajbanshi shared the seven Afghanistan wickets and kept a lid on them in a strong bowling display. Nepal produced a stellar all-round performance to stun Afghanistan in their Group A opening match at the Korogi Sports Park on Friday.
Bhurtel and Rajbanshi had earlier spun Afghanistan into their spin web, with the latter giving just 13 runs from his four overs and taking three wickets too. Nepal have won their first match and will play the winless Japan in their last league game. However, Dipendra joined Rohit and the two went treaded with caution to avoid any mishaps. They kept finding singles and doubles to inch closer before Rohit hit three fours in the 16th and 17th over when the finishing line was very near. Dipendra departed in the 18th over when Nepal were level on scores, but with the work almost done, Gulsan Jha took the team over the victory line with a single. Bhurtel scaled four as Afghanistan were never let to score freely. Afghanistan have one win and one loss in their two matches in the league stage. They don’t have a game in hand but are still on top of the three-team Group A table on NRR. Each team plays only two matches in the league stage and the top two from each group will make it to the quarterfinals.
