ACC Premier League: Nepal beat hosts Malaysia on Day 2

Nepal Cricket Team (File Photo)

Nepal defeated hosts Malaysia by 5 wickets in its second match on day 2 of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Premier League held at Bayuemas Oval, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Earlier Nepal had beaten UAE on the opening day of the ACC Premier League.

Malaysia won the toss and elected to bat first. Batting first, hosts Malaysia were all out for 149 runs in 43 overs scoring at 3.46 runs per over. Anwar Arudin top scored with 34 runs for Malaysia. Sompal Kami was pick of the bowler for Nepal, bowling an excellent spell which saw him pick up a 5-wicket haul. Basanta Regmi took 2 wickets while Sagar Pun, Mehboob Alam and skipper Parash Khadka took 1 wicket each for Nepal.

Chasing the target of 150 to win the match, Nepal didn’t start well. Opener Subash Khakurel was out for a duck while another opener Naresh Budayair was out just making 8 runs. Skipper Parash Khadka was out for 11 runs while vice-captain Gyanendra Malla was out for 13 runs.

Nepal were in trouble with just 46 runs on the board in 10.4 overs with 4 major players returning to the pavilion. But all-rounder Mehboob Alam came to the rescue of Nepal scoring 53 runs in 71 balls before being run-out. Sharad Veshwakar supported Memboob Alam scoring 29 runs while Binod Bhandari contributed 13 runs in the 5-wicket Nepal win over hosts Malaysia.

Sompal Kami (Nepal) was judged Player of the Match for his excellent bowling.

In another matches of the day 2, Afghanistan defeated UAE by 70 runs while Oman defeated Hong Kong by 9 runs.