ACC Premier Cup Cricket: Nepal defeats Saudi Arabia by six wickets

Kathmandu, April 17: Nepal has defeated Saudi Arabia by six wickets in its last game of the group stage under the ACC Premier Cup Cricket.

With this win, Nepal has entered the semi-final, remaining unbeaten in the group stage matches. Today’s match held at Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman was reduced to eight from 20 overs after rain affected it.

Batting first, Saudi Arabia posted a victory target of 74 runs before Nepal. Nepal achieved the target in 7.2 overs, losing four wickets. Gulshan Jha collected 32 runs unbeaten for Nepal. He hit two sixes and two fours off 19 balls.

Dipendra Singh Airee made 17 runs and skipper Rohit Paudel 16. The rest of the batters could not make double digit runs. Ishtiaq Ahmed took two wickets for Saudi Arabia while Usman Najeeb and Wazi Ul Hasan each took one wicket.

Electing to bat first after losing the toss, Saudi Arabia made 73 runs, losing seven wickets, in the allotted eight overs. Abdul Waheed collected a total 37 runs in 16 balls, hitting three boundaries and three fours. Other Saudi batters could not make runs in the double digit.

For Nepal, Karan KC and Abinash Bohara each took two wickets while Pratis GC and Llait Rajbanshi each took one wicket. Nepal which is placed in Group ‘A’ had defeated Malaysia by five wickets in the first match, Qatar by 32 runs in the second match and Hong Kong by eight wickets in the third match.