Nepal has advanced to the semi-finals of Group A of the ICC T20 Global Qualifiers, beating Canada by eight wickets.
Canada, who had earlier batted in the match played at Al Amerat Cricket Stadium in Oman, had given a narrow victory target of 81 runs to Nepal.
Kushal Bhurtel scored 34 runs and Dipendra Singh Airee scored 27 runs for Nepal.
Following the low target, Nepal started the second innings losing two early wickets in five overs.
Nepal’s opener Ashif Sheikh was out for the first wicket. He was LBW trapped by Salman Nazar.
Facing 16 balls, Sheikh scored 17 runs with the help of one six and one four.
Nepal lost Kushal Malla for the second wicket in the third ball of Kaleem Sana.
Malla, who faced the first ball, was goden ducked out by Sana.
For Nepal, captain Sandeep Lamichhane took highest three wickets for the team.
Kamal Singh Airee and Abinash Bohara took two wickets each and Kushal Malle had one in the match.
Dillon Heyliger scored the most runs for Canada. Facing 22 balls, he contributed 24 runs with the help of two sixes and one four.
The first success for Nepal was given by Kamal Singh Airee in the very first over.
Airee caught Matthew Spoors in the fifth ball of the first over.
Airee himself led Nepal to the second success.
In the third ball of the fourth over, Canada’s skipper Navneet Dhaliwal was returned to the pavilion for 18 runs.
In the second ball of the fifth over, Nepal got the third victory.
Rayyan Pathan was forced to leave the crease by Abinash Bohara for 14 runs.
Pathan was run out by Kamal Singh Airee.
In the last ball of the same over, Ravinderpal Singh was caught out by wicketkeeper Ashif Sheikh and it was Bohara who gave Nepal its fourth victory.
In the last ball of the seventh over, skipper Lamichhane caught Hamza Tariq in lbw.
Facing five balls, Tariq managed to add only one run.
Dipendra Singh Airee gave Nepal its sixth success.
He came to bowl the eighth over of the game and took the wicket of Saad Bin Zafar.
Kamal Singh Airee and wicketkeeper Ashif Sheikh forced him to return to the pavilion.
Kaleem Sana was dismissed as Canada’s seventh wicket. He was caught out by captain Lamichhane through Kushal Malla.
Kushal Malla gave the eighth success to Nepal. He lured Harsh Thaker to the LBW.
Before being dismissed, Thaker faced four balls and added only two runs.
Junaid Siddiqui was the ninth victim of Nepal’s bowling.
He returned to the pavilion by after being caught by WK Sheikh of Lamichhane’s spell.
Against Nepal, Canada’s 7 batsmen could not score a double digit run.
Ravinder, Tariq and Sana returned to the pavilion with one run each.
Saad, Harsh and Junaid scored two runs each.
Dhaliwal (18) and Pathan (14) became the second and third top run scorer for Canada.
Batting at number 10 & 11 Dillon Heyliger and Salman Nazar tried to rescue Canada’s innings but went in vain.
Abinash Bohara ended Canada’s innings caughting Nazar for 10 runs.
Canada was all out for 80 runs in last ball of the 15th over of the 1st inning.
After winning the match against Canada, Nepal has become the winner of sub Group B of the Global Qualifiers group A.
Now, Nepal will play against sub group A runners-up UAE for final entry.
Nepal, who have won all three games of the group stage, remain unbeaten and top the table with six points.
Oman also made it to the semi-finals along with Nepal registering a huge nine-wicket win over the Philippines.
Oman will play sub group A winners Scotland in the final.
In the first semi-final, Nepal will face UAE tomorrow at 3:45 PM (NST) while Scotland will face Oman in the other semi-final which will start at the same time.
Two teams, who reach to the final of Group A of the Global Qualifiers will participate in the ICC T20 World Cup to be held in Australia this October.
