Kathmandu, March 12
Nepal have retained their ODI status by beating the UAE by 177 runs at TU Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Batting first, Nepal got off to a horrible start as they lost Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh and Kushal Malla in the power play. Captain Rohit Paudel steadied the innings with Bhim Sarki putting up a 54-run stand.
Paudel top-scored for Nepal with 77 runs but it was a gutsy inning by Aarif Sheikh whose 43 put help Nepal to a par total on what looked like a tricky pitch. Contributions by Gulshan Jha and Dipendra Singh Airee who scored 37 and 34 runs respectively took Nepal to 248 runs.
In reply, the UAE go off to the worst possible start as they lost their top order in the first five overs. Nepali bowlers dominated as they did not give the UAE a sniff as they were bowled out for 71 thanks to a five-wicket haul by spinner Lalit Rajbanshi.
With this, Nepal have climbed up to fourth in the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 standing overtaking the USA and securing their ODI status.
Nepal now need two more wins to reach the global qualifiers of the ICC Cricket World Cup that will be held in Zimbabwe later in the year.
Nepal will now play the PNG on Monday.
