Nepal triumphed on the third day of the T20 World Cup Asia final in a shortened game against Malaysia.
The third day of the tournament started with the rain threatening to ruin everything, but ground personnel and officials worked their magic to prepare the ground for a nine-to-nine affair.
Gyanendra Malla, who came in for the injured captain of Nepal, Paras Khadka, won the pitch and picked the field. From one it was an exciting cricket when the Malaysians wanted to Nepal.
Sompal Kami took the new ball for Nepal and was able to strike with the first delivery, hitting the deck hard and generating a good pace and hopping to remove Anwar Arudin and then Sahfiq Sharif from the final ball of the first , Syed Aziz hit two borders before Kami in the same round and that signaled the things that both sides should pursue to take the initiative.
Aziz (30 out of 15) and Virandeep Singh (21 out of 17) were the pickers, as Malaysia lost on the field due to their excellent performance in the field and their piercing bowling. B Regmi won 2-0 from 1-0 and Kami finished the tournament 3-23 from 2-0 to narrow Malaysia from 9-0 to 83-7.
Nepalese kickers PS Airee (12 of 14) and Malla (51 of 21) wisely went into the park to fight for victory from the start. The opener reached 66 of 5.2 Overs with some spectacular shots around the park, so the Nepal fans had a lot to report. Especially Malla was mad with anger and hit five borders and three massive sixes. This was Nepal’s fastest T20I half century.
Muhammad Syahadat impressed the Malaysians with 3/19 out of his two overs, but Nepal crossed the finish line with an over to spare and seven wickets in hand.
Malla – the replacement captain – was the player of the game for his stunning 51 and clever captain position.
Tomorrow is a rest day and the action starts on Friday, the 26th of July. Qatar hits Kuwait and hosts Singapore play Malaysia.
