Oman beat Nepal by seven wickets in the Asia Cup Qualifier held in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
Batting first Nepal posted 221 runs on the board in the allotted 50 overs. Sagun Pun top-scored for Nepal with 83 runs while opening batsman Gyanendra Malla also contributed with 43. Pun’s 92-run partnership with Aarif Sheikh who scored 36 runs helped set the challenging target.
In reply, Oman cruised to a win with two overs to spare. Nepal’s bowling looked quite poor with strike bowler Sandeep Lamicchane ending the game without a wicket. But he ran out two Omani batsmen. Captain Paras Khadka was the only Nepali bowler who was amongst the wickets.
Oman’s batsmen Khawar Ali and captain Zeeshan Maqsood put up an unbeaten 77 run stand which helped them win the game with 12 balls remaining.
This was the 4th time in a row that Nepal lost to Oman in a 50-over match.
Meanwhile, the UAE clinched a comfortable 215-run win against Singapore while the hosts Malaysia shocked Hong Kong by three wickets.
Nepal must now win all the remaining matches to make it to the final of the tournament and have a chance to qualify for the 2018 Asia Cup.
As it stands the UAE top the table and are followed by Oman and Malaysia.
