UAE surpassed Nepal by 7 runs on high-scoring thriller to sealed ICC World Cricket League Division II title.
UAE’s skipper Rohan Mustafa won the toss and surprisingly he opted to bat first. UAE posted the mammoth total of 277 runs on board. 109 runs stand between Rohan Mustafa (51) and Ashfaq Ahmed (114) set the base of UAE’s inning. Ahmed smashed 10 fours and 3 sixes on his way to register first List ‘A’ century. Rameez Shahzad (41) and Shaiman Anwar (40) rested notable contribution from UAE’s batsmen. For Nepal, Sompal Kami, Basant Regmi, and Sandeep Lamichhane picked up a wicket each.
In reply, Nepal’s opener, Gyanendra Malla (24) and Dilip Nath (13) got the start but failed to capitalize it yet again. Nepal’s skipper Paras Khadka (112)* led their chase. Khadka smashed 8 huge sixes and 3 fours to register his second list ‘A’ century. Dipendra Airee (35) and Sharad Vesawkar (30) were second and third runs getter for Nepal respectively. Rohit Paudel tried his best with 23(17) cameo but Nepal found 7 runs short of target in the completion of inscribed 50 over.
For UAE, Amir Hayat bagged 4 wickets where Imran Haider succeeds to pick up 2 wickets. Ashfaq Ahmed was declared as Player Of The Match where IPL contracted Sandeep Lamichhane was named as player of the tournament.
With this victory, UAE confirmed their spot in ICC World Cup Qualifier’s group ‘A’ where two times world cup winning team West Indies is also Included. Nepal is placed in group ‘B’ where host Zimbabwe along with cricket’s rising team Afghanistan will fight.
Group ‘A’ | Group ‘B’ |
---|---|
West Indies | Zimbabwe |
Ireland | Afghanistan |
PNG | Hong Kong |
Netherlands | Scotland |
UAE | Nepal |