Nepal stuns Afghanistan but bows out of the tournament

This match was kind of an interesting battle between the minnows. Afghanistan has stunned Bangladesh few days back in a One Day International match and their current from often suggest that they are the team on the up and may soon find themselves playing against the big boy of cricket regularly. But in this match, they did exactly what the Bangladeshis did against them few days back and that is losing a game against the lesser talented side. With due credit to the talent Nepal played exceptionally well when they took to the field , perhaps they need to sort out their batting plan because currently it looks that they are interested only in scoring around 140 runs when they bat first.

ICC World T20 | First Round | Match 9 | Afghanistan Vs Nepal

Venue: Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong

Toss:Afghanistan who elected to field first

Playing XIs

Nepal: Subhash Khakurel, Sagar Pun, Gyandendra Malla , Paras Khadka, Sharad Vesawkar, Binod Bhandari, Naresh Budayair, Basand Regmi, Shakti Gauchan, Sompal Kami, Jitendra Mukhiya

Afghanistan: Mohammad Shahzad, Karim Sadiq, Najibullah Zardan, Nawroz Mangal, Shafiqullah, Mohammad Nabi, Asghar Stanikzai, Samiullah Shenwari, Mirwais Ashraf, Dawlat Zadran

Mini Score Card:

Nepal 141/5 (20) Subhash Khakurel 56 (53) | Shapoor Zadran 2/19 (4)

Afghanistan 132/8 (20) Asghar Stanikzai 49 (36) | Jitendra Mukhiya 3/18 (4)

Result:Nepal won by 9 runs

Man of the match: Jitendra Mukhiya (Nepal)

Points:Nepal 2 (4), Afghanistan 0 (2)

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) | S Ravi (India) | Rod Tucker (3^rd – Australia) | Paul Reiffel (Reserve – Australia)

Match Referee: Javagal Srinath (India)

How they played the game

Powerplay:Nepal 45 runs, 1 wicket | Afghanistan 24 runs, 3 wickets

First 50 runs:Nepal 44 balls | Afghanistan 53 balls

Next 50 runs:Nepal 41 balls | Afghanistan 48 balls

Best Partnership

Nepal – 4^th Wicket 76 runs off 57 balls | Contributors: Subhash Khakurel 37 (27) and Sharad Vesawkar 33 (30)

Afghanistan – 6^th Wicket 33 runs off 31 balls | Contributors: Asghar Stanikzai 17 (16) and Shafiqullah 16 (15)

Boundaries:

Fours

Nepal 16 (Subhash Khakurel 6, Sharad Vesawkar 5, Gyanendra Malla 3, Sagar Pun and Binod Bhandari 1)

Afghanistan 13 (Asghar Stanikzai 4, Shafiqullah 3, Karim Sadiq 2, Mohammad Shahzad, Najibullah Zadran,Nawroz Mangal and Samiullah Shenwari 1)

SIXERS

Nepal 2 (Subhash Khakurel and Gyanendra Malla)

Afghanistan 2 (Asghar Stanikzai and Shafiqullah)

Important facts about the match

• This is Nepal’s second win against Afghanistan in international cricket. First was in 2004 in ACC Trophy a 50 over game.
• Subhash Khakurel becomes the first Nepali batsmen to score a half century in ICC World T20.

In the pic: Paras Khadka in the process to take a great catch

Pic Courtesy: ESPN-Cricinfo