Nepal surrender in horrible batting display

By Cricketing Country | Posted Posted Apr 20, 2024

Nepal surrendered meekly to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to crash out of the ACC Premier Cup at the Al Amerat Cricket Grounds in Oman on Friday.

The semi-final exit means Nepal are out of the 2025 Asia Cup contention failing to repeat their 2023 heroics where they won the tournament and played Test giants India and Pakistan in the regional showpiece event.

Nepal failed to cope up to a burst of fast bowling spell from UAE bowlers and hardly forged a comeback. Sandeep Jora played with some grit striking a half century but Nepal could only manage 119-9 in 20 overs.

Opener Alishan Sharafu continued his fine form to reply with an unbeaten half century as UAE reached 123-4 in 17.2 overs.

Man-of-the-match Sharafu scored 55 from 41 balls with four boundaries and two sixes. Vishnu Sukumar chipped in a run-a-ball 28. Gulshan Jha took two wickets for Nepal.

Earlier, Kushal Bhurtel once again fell for a first ball duck as UAE fast bowlers ran riot. Aasif Sheikh (eight), skipper Rohit Kumar Paudel (five), Kushal Malla (three) and Dipendra Singh Airee (five) hardly offered any resistance.

Jora struck a 40-ball 50 with four boundaries and two sixes. Gulshan Jha (20) and Karan KC (17) were the only remaining batsmen to reach double digits.

Junaid Siddique, Ali Naseer and Basil Hameed took two wickets each for UAE who will now meet hosts Oman in the final.

Nepal will now take on Hong Kong in the third place playoff. The winner of the game qualifies for ACC Emerging Teams Cup along with the two finalists.