Nepal defeats UAE on half-centuries from Dipendra and Arif
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Nepal defeated the UAE by seven wickets in their first warm-up match for the Twenty20 World Cup on Tuesday, thanks to half-centuries from Dipendra Singh Airi and Arif Sheikh.
This is the first time that Nepal, which is playing its third World Cup, has won a practice match. In 2014, during its first World Cup, Nepal was defeated by Ireland by 5 wickets and by UAE by 6 wickets in a practice match in Bangladesh.
Nepal was all out for 99 runs in the stipulated 20 overs against UAE. Two years ago, Nepal was defeated by Canada by 63 runs in a practice match in the US. Similarly, a practice match against the US was cancelled due to the weather.
After winning the toss at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai, Nepal bowled hard, due to which UAE, which was invited to bat first, could only score 145 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.
After Dipendra and Arif shared an unbeaten partnership of 103 runs for the fourth wicket, Nepal scored 148 runs in 17 overs. Vice-captain Dipendra scored 50 runs. He hit 4 fours and 1 six in 31 balls. Arif remained unbeaten on 61 runs off 37 balls. Arif hit 8 fours and 2 sixes.
Opener Kushal Bhurtel hit 2 fours before being caught behind the wicket by Mohammad Rohid for 8 runs. Asif Sheikh was out for 8 runs off 6 balls and captain Rohit Poudel for 16 runs off 19 balls. Both were run out. Earlier, Shahid Khan remained unbeaten on 38 runs from UAE.
He hit 3 fours and 1 six off 27 balls. Harshit Kaushik scored 35 off 24 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes, Aryansh Sharma scored 25 off 17 balls with 3 fours and 1 six, Mohammad Zahid scored 19 runs and Alishan Sarafu scored 12 runs.
UAE could not play openly after Karan KC bowled captain Mohammad Wasim for 6 runs in the first over. Karan took 26 runs in 3 overs and Sandeep Lamichhane took 2 wickets each for 24 runs in 4 overs. Dipendra took 1 wicket for just 12 runs in 3 overs.
Nepal will play its second warm-up match against Canada in Chennai on Thursday. Nepal will play all its World Cup matches in Mumbai. Nepal will begin its World Cup journey by playing two-time champions England on Sunday.
