Nepal reached its maiden ICC global event with a nail-biting five-wicket victory off the last ball over Hong Kong in the quarter-final of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2013 in Abu Dhabi. Chasing 144 to win, it needed 13 from the last over. Sharad Vesawkar hit a straight six and then an inside-edged four before hitting the winning runs from the final delivery with the scores level. Captain Paras Khadka top-scored with 46 from 39 balls and afterwards said: “Our childhood dreams have come true.” Nepal went on to finish third in the event with a five-wicket play-off victory over UAE. However, it missed out on qualification for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, finishing ninth in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier New Zealand 2014 in January. Nepal became an ICC member in 1988, competed at the ICC Under-19 World Cup in 2000 and debuted in first-class cricket in 2004. It is expected to be strong in the spin bowling department, in particular left-armer Basant Regmi, who was its leading bowler at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2013 with 14 wickets.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 02:09:08 +0000