Another poor batting condemns Nepal to fifth straight League 2 loss

Nepal’s winless streak in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 continued to five matches as they suffered a five-wicket defeat against Canada in the second leg of Canada Tri-Series in King City on Monday.

It was Nepal’s third straight loss in King City, after also losing their previous tri-series matches against Canada by 103 runs and Oman by one wicket at the Maple Leaf.

The Rhinos’ winless streak in the second edition of the League 2 stretches back to February when they lost against Namibia (by two wickets on February 21) and the Netherlands (by eight wickets on February 25) in the inaugural tri-series, which was held at the TU Cricket Ground in Kathmandu.

Their only victory of the second edition of the League 2 came against the Dutch (by nine wickets on February 17) in Kirtipur. Before that, Nepal had lost the League opener to Namibia by four wickets.

The losing run now puts a big question mark on the coaching style of Monty Desai, who was thought to have finally addressed Nepali’s batting inconsistencies when he guided Nepal to 11 victories in 12 matches in the last edition’s League 2 that secured Nepal a third spot and a place in the Cricket World Cup Qualifiers last year.

But the batting problems—which has been their biggest headache in both T20 and ODI formats—has come back to haunt Nepal again.

Desai dropped Kushal Bhurtel, who is having the worst year of his life, again and started Arjun Saud in the opening line-up with Aasif Sheikh.

Big-hitter Dipendra Singh Airee and Kushal Malla were also benched, giving opportunities to Anil Sah and Aarif Sheikh.

However the new faces have failed to give Nepal momentum.

The openers also failed to give Nepal a good start for a second game in a row, with Saud falling for 10 and Aasif departing for a cheap two.

Rohit Paudel’s team again had to rely on lower order batters to post 181 in 46.1 overs after seeing their top and middle order collapse humiliatingly.

Nepal were in big trouble at 36-5 after losing Bhim Sharki (4), captain Rohit Paudel (4) and Ani Sah (1) cheaply, with Kaleem Sana (3-29) striking twice.

Aarif Sheikh played 10 off 33 and Gulsan Jha—who scored a half-century and took a five-wicket haul against Oman on Wednesday—made 34 off 56 to drag Nepal to 87-7 after 27.1 overs.

After Sana dispatched Aarif and Harsh Thaker removed Jha, Sompal Kami and Sandeep Lamichhane put on a 55-run stand for the eighth wicket to help Nepal post a respectable total.

Kami walked back in 38.4 overs after making 21 off 48, trapped leg in front by Saad Bin Zafar.

Lamichhane was denied his first ODI half-century when Thaker had him caught by Praveen on 49 runs in the 45.4. It was his career best ODI score. Lamichhane hit five fours and one six in his brave 48-ball knock.

Karan KC then added 24 runs off 28 balls.

In reply, Canada lost their opener Aaron Johnson for a duck in the 4.2 overs, caught by Gulsan Jha off KC.

But Johnson’s opening partner Navneet Dhaliwal and Pragat Singh shared a 122-run stand for the second wicket to lay the foundation for victory.

Dhaliwal scored 87 runs off 133 balls smashing eight fours and four sixes, while Singh made 64 off 83 balls. Singh cracked seven boundaries and two maximums.

Jha took the wicket of Singh in the 30.3 overs and Lalit Rajbanshi sent back Dhaliwal in the 37.4 overs but Canada were already closer to target.

Thaker then played 24-ball 13 and skipper Nicholas Kirton added 11 not out facing eight deliveries to guide Canada to 186-5 in 42 overs.

Lamichhane took two wickets, that of Thaker and Akhil Kumar.

It was Canada’s third straight victory in the tri-series and seventh overall in the League 2 from 11 matches. The Canadians lead the eight-team standings with 14 points.

Nepal next play Oman on Tuesday.

Oman are in the sixth position with two wins and three losses from six matches. Their match against Scotland in July yielded no result.

Nepal lie in the seventh position with just two points after seven games.

The United Arab Emirates are at the bottom, also on two points, but have played only five matches.