Nepal defeated Scotland by seven wickets in the Twenty20 World Cup on Tuesday thanks to a half-century by Dipendra Singh Airi. Nepal achieved the target of 171 runs with four balls to spare at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai after Dipendra scored a half-century for the second consecutive match.

Nepali fans cheering the team at Wankhede Stadium. Photo: Hemant Shrestha and Angad Dhakal/Kantipur

Nepal has won its first match in the World Cup after 12 years. This is only the third win for Nepal in its third World Cup. Nepal has not won a single match in the World Cup since defeating Afghanistan in Chittagong, Bangladesh in 2014. In this process, it had lost 6 matches and one match was abandoned due to rain.

In this World Cup too, the Nepali team had lost to England, Italy and the West Indies. Nepal was out of the second round after losing these three matches. Dipendra scored a half-century of 50 runs off 23 balls. He hit 4 fours and 3 sixes. Dipendra had also scored 58 runs in the previous match against the West Indies, which was also the highest score by a Nepali player in the World Cup. Two of the 3 half-centuries scored by Nepal in the World Cup are in the name of Dipendra. Player of the Match Dipendra shared a partnership of 73 runs off 36 balls for the fourth wicket with Gulshan Jha. Gushlan scored 24 runs in 17 balls, including 1 four and 2 sixes. 

Openers Kushal Bhurtel and Asif Sheikh gave Nepal an aggressive start and laid the foundation for victory. Nepal, who had scored 56 runs without loss in the power play, scored 74 runs in 9 overs. Kushal was caught by Michael Lisk in the first ball of the 10th over. Kushal hit 1 four and 5 sixes in 35 balls. 

Lisk also dismissed another Nepali opener, Asif, in the 12th over. Asif scored 33 runs in 27 balls, including 2 sixes. Nepal came under pressure after Lisk also dismissed captain Rohit Poudel. Rohit scored 16 runs in 14 balls, including 1 four. 

Lisk conceded only 10 runs in his first 3 overs. But in his fourth and Nepal's 16th over, he conceded 20 runs. Out of those, Dipendra hit Lisk for 2 sixes and 1 four while scoring 19 runs. 

Earlier, Scotland, who were invited to bat after losing the toss for 71 runs by opener Michael Jones, scored 170 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs. Scoring 52 runs without loss in the power play, Scotland made a great start by adding 80 runs in the first 10 overs. 

In the last ball of the 10th over, captain Rohit dismissed George Muncie to break the partnership. Muncie hit 4 fours in 29 balls to score 27 runs. Brandon McMullan was given life for 15 runs when Sandeep Jora managed to drop his catch off Nandan Yadav. 

Jones shared a 52-run partnership with McMullan in 32 balls for the second wicket. Sompal Kami tried to bring Nepal back into the game by dismissing both of them in the 16th over. Sompal bowled Jones and cut and bowled McMullan.