Nepal's hope of reaching the finals has been awakened

After losing to Namibia and the Netherlands in the first two matches, Nepal's chances of reaching the final were getting weaker. But after the victory with Namibia, Nepal has suddenly become the right to the final. Nepal will face Netherlands on Saturday. If they win, Nepal's chances of reaching the final will be even stronger.

After Karan KC gave only 8 runs in the last over, Nepal defeated Namibia by 3 runs. In the last over, when Namibia needed 12 runs for victory, Karan gave only 8 runs. Karan, who had spent 41 runs in his previous 3 overs, bowled Sandar with a risky last over. Of the 8 runs added by Namibia in the last over, there was also a four off the last ball. Namibia came with a victory target of 181 runs and was stopped at a score of 177-7.

'I thought that I should take the game that I was caught, that's why I told Rohit (captain) that I will bowl the last over,' said Karan, 'I was also confident about it. The captain also helped me. It was said that if a yorker or a slow ball is bowled, the match can be taken. I bowled accordingly. Nepal was able to stop Namibia by playing all 5 fast bowlers including Karan.

Nepal had to take penalty overs in the last two overs. Due to not completing the bowling as per the scheduled time, Nepal was given a penalty over. Because of this, Nepal could keep only 4 fielders outside the 30 yard circle. But in the 19th over, Avinash gave only 11 runs, then Karan bowled hard and won Nepal.

Namibia could score only 110 runs in 14 overs. In a match controlled by Nepal, Jan Freelink and captain JJ Schmidt brought Namibia back into the game after hitting Karan for 23 runs with 3 sixes in the 15th over.

When the game turned in Namibia's favour, Dipendrasinh Airey gave away just 2 runs in the 16th over, dismissing Schmidt and Jan Nicholas Lofty Eaton in consecutive balls. On the first ball of the over, Dipendra had Schmidt caught by Anil Shah at long off and lefty Eaton was dismissed on the next ball. Lefty Eaton, who scored a world record hundred in 33 balls in the previous match against Nepal, reached to catch substitute fielder Sandeep Zora at midwicket.

Nepal returned to the game after Avinash Bohra dismissed Jan Freilink in the next over. Avinash conceded only 5 runs in the 17th over. With Namibia's regular captain Jerhad Erasmus returning due to injury, Schmidt, who is leading the team, scored 50 runs off 26 balls by hitting 6 fours and 2 sixes. Frylink scored 37 off 29 balls with 1 four and 2 sixes, JP Kotze scored 25 off 22 balls with 4 fours and Jane Green scored an unbeaten 23 off 13 balls with 4 fours.

Dipendra took 29 runs in 4 overs, Sompal 34 runs in 4 overs and Karan took 2 wickets each with 49 runs in 4 overs. Avinash Bohra took 1 wicket for 32 runs in 4 overs.

After losing the toss earlier at Kirtipur University Cricket Ground, Nepal was invited to bat and scored 180 runs by losing 8 wickets in the scheduled 20 overs. Kushal Malla scored an unbeaten 55. He played a total of 37 balls and hit 1 four and 4 sixes. Kushal, who completed his half-century in 30 balls, shared a 55-ball 85-run partnership with Arif Sheikh for the fifth wicket. Arif, who is playing his first match in the tournament, scored 31 runs off 24 balls and hit 4 fours.

Nepal did not start well. Asif Shaikh scored only 1 run and was bowled by Ben Sikongo. Rohit Paudel hit 2 fours and got out after scoring 10 runs off 9 balls. Like Arif, Anil, who is playing his first match in the tournament, hit 3 sixes and scored 23 runs off 17 balls.

Gulsan Jha, sent at number four, scored 26 runs by hitting 1 four and 3 sixes in 16 balls. He was dismissed lbw by Bernard Scholtz. After that Kushal and Arif's partnership was frozen. Karan, who came after Arif was out, hit 1 six and scored 7 runs in 3 balls. Sompal Kami could score only 2 runs in 3 balls. Sikongo took 3 for 28 runs in 4 overs and Jack Brussels took 2 wickets for 45 runs in 4 overs.

With Kushal Bhurtel and Sandeep Zora and Lalit Rajwanshi on the bench from the Nepali team that played against the Netherlands on Wednesday, Nepal has replaced them with Anil Shah, Arif Sheikh and Avinash Bohra in the playing 11. Bhurtel was out for zero in both matches played by Nepal in this tournament. Nepal was defeated by 20 runs and 2 wickets respectively against Namibia and Netherlands in the first two matches. Namibia lost to Netherlands by 59 runs on Thursday.