Skip to main content

Nepal enters ICC World Twenty20

David East presents Paras Khadka of Nepal with the man of the match award.
Nepal qualified for the ICC World Twenty20 2014 in Bangladesh with a thrilling, five-wicket win over Hong Kong off the last ball in the quarterfinal of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday (November 27).

Sent in to bat, Hong Kong lost its first wicket in the second over,  with Irfan Ahmed falling to Jitendra Mukhiya, the medium-pacer, for 8. Avinash Karn then struck after three overs to remove Jamie Atkinson, the Hong Kong captain, to leave the side struggling at 25 for 2 in 4.1 overs. Waqas Barkat and Nizakat Khan scored 25 runs each as Mukhia and Karn continued troubling the batsmen with disciplined bowling. Late cameos from Munir Dar (20) and Tanwir Afzal (25) took Hong Kong to 143 for 8 in its 20 overs.

Mukhiya was the pick of the bowlers for Nepal bagging 3 for 32 runs in his four overs.

Nepal got off to a steady start in its chase with a 32-run opening stand between Sagar Pun and Subash Khakurel, the wicketkeeper. Gyanendra Malla chipped in with an innings of 30 from 27 balls after Afzal castled Khakurel for 16 in the fifth over. Paras Khadka, the Nepal captain, played a responsible hand of 46 before he was run-out by Babar Hayat in the 19th over, leaving Nepal 128 for 5, needing 16 to win off nine balls.

Sharad Vesawkar and Pradeep Airee then took charge, remaining unbeaten till the end with Vesawkar easing the pressure by smashing a six and a four off the first two balls of the final over from Haseeb Amjad. He took a single off the last ball to take Nepal to its target of 144 and seal the win.

Nepal thereby joined Afghanistan and Ireland to become the third team to qualify for the ICC World Twenty20 2014.

Khadka, who was named the Man of the Match for his innings, was thrilled with Nepal's qualification, the first time it had entered the ICC World Twenty20 tournament.

"This is the biggest moment of our lives.  It’s all our childhood dreams come true. I think the boys have worked really hard for this, over the past two months, the past two years, we’ve been really pushing it in the World Cricket League and the Twenty20 format.  I think that when it mattered, everyone contributed, and I am really glad we are there," said Khadka.

Reflecting on the dramatic victory, he said: “That’s cricket for you.  You can never take things for granted, you have to win it as soon as you can.  In the end, it really doesn’t matter if it’s on the last ball or any ball.”

Khadka added that while the side was overjoyed at qualifying, it would go straight back to training to keep focused on the remainder of the current tournament. "The tournament is still not over, we have a chance, we are in the semifinals now, we are most likely playing Afghanistan, so it’s about time we give them what they've been giving us all these years. So we’d like to go out there, win the semifinals, and go on to win the final."

While Nepal readies itself for the semifinal, Hong Kong will face Papua New Guinea in a do-or-die clash on Thursday.

"It was good going in today, knowing we could play with no fear and know if we did lose we had another chance. But I will take nothing away from the effort from our boys today. We put everything out there and it was just unfortunate and was a great game of cricket,” said Mark Chapman, the Hong Kong middle-order batsman.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Nepal the world’s best value destination for 2017 : Lonely Planet

KATHMANDU:  Nepal has been ranked as one of the best countries in the world to visit in 2017, according to Lonely Planet’s annual Best in Travel list. Publishing the travel list for 2017 on Tuesday, the world’s renowned travel guide has said that Nepal is the hottest destination for all budget travellers while the country came out on the fifth place among top 10 countries of the list “Nepal is the world’s number one destination in terms of service and value,” the Best in Travel 2017 list which showcases the top 10 countries, cities, regions and best value destinations for next year, added. The ‘travel bible’ notes that natural disasters can’t even keep Nepal down for long. “The 2015 earthquakes caused devastation, but what is most striking from a traveller’s perspective is not how much was lost but how much remains.” Landmark temples crumbled, but others came through with just the odd tile out of place, and whole swathes of the country escaped serious damage, includin...

Sanghiya Samajbadi Party formed under Rai

KATHMANDU, NOV 22 - The crusaders of federalism based on single identity on Monday announced the formation of a new party under the leadership of former CPN-UML Vice Chairman Ashok Rai. The new party Sanghiya Samajbadi Party was announced at a programme organised at a function organised at New Baneshwor in the Capital. Most of the leaders and cadres of the new party are from the UML and some are also from the Nepali Congress. The 98-member central ad hoc working committee includes eight vice chairmen, one general secretary, three deputy general secretaries and five secretaries. Bijaya Subba, Durga Mani Dewan, Prem Krishna Pathak, Bir Bahadur Lama, Rakanm Chemjong, Hemraj Rai, Mohammad Rijwan Ansari and Gopal Thakur have been appointed as the vice chairmen for the party whereas Rajendra Shrestha is the general secretary. Likewise, Ajambar Rai Kangmang, Radha Timilsina and Norsang Lama are the deputy general secretaries while Mina Gurung, Horilal Ch...

Kaliprasad Rijal, Senior Lyricist

 It's interview time : Moment of interview with Kaliprasd Rijal.His famous songs are, BIHANA UTHNE BITTIKAI, JHAREKO PAT JHAI BHAYO, CHARI LE TA CHHADERA GAIHALI, etc. Most of his songs were sang by Narayan Gopal, famous singer of nepal.  Remembering his old days  Young kaliprasad, with his wife  Searching his old photos  Photo pose with legend lyricist  Kaliprasad in his office IT'S ME