Nepal defeated UAE by 6 runs in the Cricket World Cup League 2 on Friday by Duckworth Lewis method. This is Nepal's second victory in the 3 matches of this League 2 series. Nepal had also defeated UAE by 37 runs in the first match.

Earlier, Nepal, who won the toss and elected to bat after Dipendra Singh Airi scored 100 runs, scored 289 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in the stipulated 50 overs at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Stadium, Kirtipur. When UAE scored 36 runs in 4.1 overs, rain interrupted the match for more than an hour.

Then, UAE had to score 255 runs in 38 overs to win. But in reply, UAE could only score 248 runs for the loss of 8 wickets.

Mohammad Shahdad scored the highest score of 65 runs for UAE. He hit 4 fours and 2 sixes in 72 balls. Shahdad and Harpreet Singh put on an 80-run partnership for the third wicket as UAE moved towards victory. Harpreet was dismissed by Sompal Kami and Shahdad by Sandeep Lamichhane. Harpreet scored 41 runs in 40 balls with 5 fours.

Openers Abid Usmani and Aryansh Sharma were dismissed for 14 and 33 respectively. Aryansh hit 3 fours and 2 sixes in 32 balls. Captain Mohammad Wasim and Mohammad Zuhaib were dismissed for 1 run each. But Khuzayma Tanvir and Akshadeep Nath put on a 76-run partnership for the seventh wicket in 44 balls to take UAE closer to victory.

With UAE needing 15 runs to win in the last over, Nandan Yadav gave Nepal a sensational victory by giving away just 8 runs. Akshadeep remained unbeaten on 36 runs. He hit 2 fours and 2 sixes in 32 balls. Tanvir hit 2 fours and 5 sixes in 26 balls and scored 49 runs.

Sandeep took 3 wickets for 36 runs in 8 overs, while Sompal took 56 runs in 8 overs and Nandan took 2 wickets for 62 runs in 7 overs.

Dipendra is the second Nepali player to score two centuries in ODIs. Rohit Poudel has also scored two centuries in ODIs. Dipendra completed his first century in March 2022 by scoring 105 runs against Papua New Guinea in Kirtipur.

In the previous two matches, Dipendra had also scored half-centuries against UAE and Oman. Dipendra hit 13 fours and 1 six in 94 balls. Dipendra and Gulshan Jha shared a partnership of 102 runs in 78 balls for the sixth wicket. Both of them were out on the last ball of the innings.

Gulshan scored 44 runs in 38 balls, hitting 4 fours and 2 sixes. He was out on the last ball of the innings. Dipendra, who ran to take runs after Sompal Kami, who came to face the last ball, did not get the ball on his bat, was run out at the strike end.

36-year-old Binod Bhandari, who was playing an ODI after four years, scored 56 runs. Binod, who became the oldest player from Nepal to score a half-century, hit 7 fours in 79 balls.

Nepal had changed four players from the team that played the previous match, which was defeated by Oman by 102 runs, and gave Arjun Kumal and Binod a chance. Binod and Arjun were brought in to replace Asif and Kushal Bhurtel, who were established in the Nepali team but could not perform consistently.

Arjun, who made his ODI debut, was out for 11 runs in 22 balls, hitting 2 fours. Nepal was under pressure after Ajay Kumar, who dismissed Arjun, dismissed Bhim Sarki for a duck in the next over.