Dipendra Singh Airee fired his way to a brilliant unbeaten fifty as Nepal crushed Scotland by seven wickets in their last T20 World Cup Group C match. Airee hammered 50 runs from just 23 balls while Kushal Bhurtel chipped in with 43 from 35 deliveries to chase down the 171-run target with four balls remaining. After choosing to bowl first, Nepal kept Scotland to 170 for 7 despite Michael Jones’s impressive 71 off 45 balls. Nepal’s bowling attack was led by Sompal Kami (3/25) who grabbed three scalps, with Nandan Yadav (2/34) claiming two wickets. Nepal Pulled Their First Win In This T20 World Cup Tournament . Nepal Pulled Their First Win In This T20 World Cup Tournament .
TOSS
Nepal won the toss and chose to bowl first.
PLAYING XI
Scotland (Playing XI):
George Munsey, Michael Jones, Brandon McMullen, Richie Berrington(c), Tom Bruce, Michael Leask, Matthew Cross(w), Mark Watt, Oliver Davidson, Brad Wheal, Brad Currie
Nepal (Playing XI):
Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh(w), Rohit Paudel(c), Dipendra Singh Airee, Aarif Sheikh, Lokesh Bam, Sundeep Jora, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Nandan Yadav, Sandeep Lamichhane
SCOTLAND
Scotland got off to a strong start after being put in to bat, with Michael Jones taking charge as the main attacker. The right-handed opener unleashed some brilliant strokes and wasn’t afraid to go big, while Munsey struggled to find his usual rhythm.
Leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane’s nightmare tournament rolled on as Jones greeted him with a massive six on his very first delivery. Jones quickly brought up his half-century, but Munsey got out on the final ball of the tenth over for a sluggish 27. Brandon McMullen looked comfortable at the crease as Lamichhane continued to get hammered. There was a confusing moment when Sundeep Jora dropped a high catch, yet his teammates started celebrating thinking it was taken. The replays showed otherwise, but then Sompal Kami stepped up, fooling Jones completely with a clever knuckle ball from around the wicket to bowl him out.
A couple of balls later, Kami pulled off an incredible one-handed catch off his own bowling to send McMullen packing, and the new batsmen struggled to get going. Richie Berrington got out shortly after Paudel collided with Lokesh Bam in the deep, causing a brief stoppage. After that, Nepal’s bowlers put on a clinic in the final overs, with Kami and Nandan Yadav mixing up their slower balls and yorkers perfectly to pick up regular wickets. Kami finished with his third wicket, though a final-ball six from Watt helped Scotland reach exactly 170.
NEPAL-
Nepal started slowly while chasing the target of 171 runs, scoring only 26 runs in the first four overs itself. The team needed to score further runs at a faster pace to achieve the target. We are seeing that the plan to keep wickets was only working well though. Also, aasif Sheikh actually hit a six to break free, then Kushal Bhurtel definitely smashed Mark Watt for 23 runs in the fifth over with many boundaries. Basically, Nepal finished the PowerPlay at 56/0, which is the same as their best ever score in that phase across all T20 World Cup matches.
Bhurtel continued hitting the ball further over the fence, but the match itself took a turn when off-spinner Michael Leask started bowling. He surely forced three batsmen to play wrong shots while attempting slog-sweeps, and moreover, this caused Nepal’s score to collapse from 74/0 to 98/3 within just 4.2 overs. Also, bhurtel was surely dismissed by Tom Bruce’s excellent catch at mid-wicket after running backwards. Moreover, Aasif Sheikh’s top-edge was easily caught by the fielder at short third man. Basically Captain Rohit Paudel hit the ball wrong and got out at deep backward square leg, putting Nepal in the same trouble.
The team actually needed 65 runs from 31 balls when Gulsan Jha definitely hit a straight six off Oliver Davidson. As per the match situation, Airee completely changed the game by hitting Leask for back-to-back sixes at the start of the 16th over, regarding which 23 runs were scored in that over. Scotland faced further pressure when Airee hit two well-placed boundaries off Brad Currie. Despite Brad Wheal’s tight bowling, Airee continued his big hitting and brought the equation down to 15 runs needed from the last two overs itself. Basically, Currie’s yorkers pushed the match to the final over, but after Airee hit his fifty in just 23 balls, Jha found the same wide long-on boundary for the winning shot.
Brief Scores:
Scotland scored 170/7 in 20 overs with Michael Jones making 71 runs, but Nepal chased the target successfully and scored 171/3 in 19.2 overs itself. Nepal won by 7 wickets, with Dipendra Singh Airee remaining unbeaten on 50 and further contributions from Kushal Bhurtel who scored 43 runs.
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