Nepal finally find success in Canada but League 2 no show hurts more

Nepal were finally able to register victory in Canada when they defeated Oman by 37 runs in their second match of the Canada T20I series in King City on Sunday.

Nepal were winless in Canada, losing their three ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 matches before their last game of the series against Oman was washed out by rain. The Rhinos also lost the opening game of the T20I series against Canada by 14 runs.

The victory finally ended Nepal’s winless run of eight straight matches that stretched back to the T20 World Cup warm up against Canada in Dallas.

However, their League 2 flop in King City will hurt more as they have managed to win only one in their eight matches. The Canada no show also extended their losing streak in the League 2 to five straight games. Nepal sit in the seventh position in the eight-team League 2 with just three points.

Rohit Paudel’s team will now look to continue the momentum when they face the same sides (Canada and Oman) in the second round of the T20I series before heading to the United States to participate in the League 2 United States Tri-series that also involves Scotland.

Gulsan Jha has been outstanding in Canada and finally succeeded to guide the Rhinos to victory after his half-century and a fifer could not stop Nepal from suffering a loss against Oman in the 50-over format League 2.

On Sunday, Jha played an aggressive knock of 40 not out off 17 balls smashing three fours and three sixes helping his side post a decent total of 176-6 from their 20 overs.

Anil Sah and Aasif Sheikh were also able to find their form finally after a poor show with the bat in their previous three outings in Canada.

Sheikh’s top score was 11 in his three previous games, while Sah could not even touch the double digit figures.

Sah scored 27 off 21 and Sheikh made 27 off 22 to give Nepal a good start.

Dev Khanal played his second T20I after making debut against Canada on Saturday and failed to impress as he was dismissed for two runs.

Captain Paudel also struggled to find consistency with the bat, falling cheaply for two.

Kushal Malla returned to the squad after being dropped in the League 2 tri-series and contributed a significant 30 off 26.

Bhurtel was also back in the playing XI but was demoted to number six after failing to make his mark in the opening order. He finally did some good work scoring 20 runs (17 balls) and supported Jha’s explosive innings.

Dipendra Singh Airee also came out of the dug out after being benched in the League 2 and played a quick-fire 18 off just five balls.

In reply, Karan KC took 3-36, Bhurtel picked 2-32 including the dangerman Shoaib Khan, and Jha returned the match figures of 2-14 to wrap up Oman for 139.

Shoaib top-scored for Oman with 45 runs off 39 balls.

Rafiullah made 33 runs facing 12 deliveries.