KATHMANDU – Nepal has defeated Qatar by eight wickets in the first match of the Four-Nation T20I Series taking place in Hong Kong from today.
Chasing the 152-run victory target posted by Qatar, Nepal completed it in 17 overs at the loss of two wickets. For Nepal, Kushal Bhurtel scored the highest 38 runs off 19 balls while Captain Rohit Paudel collected 37 runs in 29 balls, Aasif Sheikh 33 runs and Basir Ahmed 30 runs. Nepal got an additional 16 runs in the match.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman took two wickets for Qatar. Qatar, which was invited to bat first after losing the toss before this, made 151 runs losing five wickets in the allotted 20 overs in the match played at the Tin Kwong Road Stadium in Hong Kong.
Captain Ikramullah Khan scored the highest number of runs for Qatar. He hit 54 runs with the help of five fours and two sixes in 54 balls. Shahzaib Jamil made 31 runs, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman 20 runs, Mohammed Irshad 18 runs and Arumugaganesh Nagarajan 13 runs. Similarly, Rifayi Theruvath contributed six runs and Jassim Khan four runs for Qatar. Qatar was awarded extra five runs.
Karan KC, Sompal Kami, Nandan Yadav, Gulshan Jha and Lalit Rajbanshi claimed one wicket each for Nepal.
