Nepal won ODI series against UAE

KATHMANDU: The home team Nepal defeated the visiting team UAE in a three-match one-day international cricket series. Nepal won the series 2-1 after defeating UAE by 6 wickets in the third and final ODI on Friday at the TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur.

Nepal added 180 runs to the 177-run target set by UAE, despite losing four wickets in 40 overs. Aasif Sheikh and Gyanendra Malla played half-centuries in Nepal’s victory. Aasif, who was run out twice, remained unbeaten and recorded the highest half-century innings of 88 runs. In 119 balls, he hit 12 fours.

Similarly, Malla scored 64 runs in 73 balls, including seven fours and three sixes. Captain Rohit Paudel was out for 10 runs, while opener Arjun Saud was out for 9. Dipendra Singh Airee was eliminated after one run. Hari Shankar Sah finished the zero run unbeaten.

Hazrat Bilal and Aayan Afzal Khan of the UAE each took one wicket. Previously, UAE scored 176 runs after losing 9 wickets in 50 overs after losing the toss and batting first.

UAE’s Aayan Afzal Khan scored an unbeaten half-century of 54 runs. Hazrat Bilal made an unbeaten 20-run innings. Aayan and Hazrat contributed 83 runs for the last wicket for UAE, which lost nine wickets while scoring only 93 runs.

Alishan Sharafu contributed 33 runs as well. Mohammad Wasim hit 11 runs and Rohan Mustafa hit 24. Gulshan Jha, Dipendra Singh Airee, and Kushal Bhurtel all took two wickets for Nepal. Sompal Kami and Lalit Rajbanshi each took one wicket.

For the first time at home, Nepal won the bilateral one-day international series. UAE won the first match of the series by 84 runs. Nepal, on the other hand, won by three wickets in the second match. Similarly, in his debut as captain, Rohit Paudel led Nepal to victory in the one-day international series. Before this series, CAN appointed Rohit as captain following the suspension of Sandeep Lamichhane.