Kushal's unbeaten 120 helped Nepal achieve the target of 196 runs by scoring 199 runs in 36.4 overs at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Stadium, Kirtipur.
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Kushal Bhurtel's century helped Nepal beat the United States by nine wickets in the Cricket World Cup League 2 on Saturday.
Kushal's unbeaten 120 helped Nepal chase down the target of 196 runs at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur, by scoring 199 runs in 36.4 overs.
Kushal hit 13 fours and 4 sixes in his 118-ball innings. Kushal scored his second century in ODIs. He had also scored 115 runs against Namibia in Kirtipur in February 2023.
Kushal had put on 145 runs for the first wicket with Asif Sheikh to lay the foundation for Nepal's victory. This is the fourth biggest partnership in ODIs for Nepal. Kushal and Asif have shared a century partnership for the fourth time for the first wicket.
The partnership was broken when Asif was dismissed in the 27th over. Asif scored 58 runs. He hit 8 fours in 72 balls. Ishan Pandey, who was making his debut, remained unbeaten on 20 runs. He hit the winning four in 30 balls.
This is the first time Nepal has defeated the US in the 2024-27 circle of League 2. Earlier, the US had won all the matches. This is Nepal's first victory over the US since they defeated the US by 6 wickets in the 2023 World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe.
Nepal has 20 points from 26 matches. Nepal remains in seventh place in the eight-nation tournament. The US is in second place with 36 points from 26 matches. This is the second consecutive defeat for the US, who came to Nepal with the top spot. They were also defeated by Scotland in the previous match.
In Saturday's match, the US, who won the toss and elected to bat, were all out for 195 runs in 43.3 overs. Nepal returned to the game with excellent fielding against the United States, which had a very strong batting.
America, which was in a strong position of 122-1 in the 23rd over and 158-3 in the 31st over, was finally all out before 6 overs. Even though Sayan Jahangir was out for 6 runs, opener Smit Patel and Sehan Jayasuriya added 100 runs for the second wicket. Jayasuriya scored 50 runs in 52 balls, hitting 5 fours and 1 six.
Smit took full advantage of Asif Sheikh's easy catch for 14 runs off Sompal Kami's ball. Smit scored 89 runs and was caught brilliantly by Asif off Sompal's ball and returned to the pavilion. He hit 8 fours and 3 sixes in 89 balls. Sompal took the wickets of both Jayasuriya and Smit.
America played without their captain Monank Patel. He had injured his finger in the match against Scotland on Thursday. In his place, Sandeep Lamichhane bowled Sayteja Mukamalla, who was captaining the US. Substitute fielder Bhim Sarki combined with Asif to run out Shubham Ranjan for 2.
Asif missed an opportunity to stump Milind Kumar when he was on 20. Nepal bowled and fielded brilliantly throughout the match and did not let America survive. Milind was out for 28 runs in 41 balls, hitting 2 fours and a six.
Sanjay Krishnamurthy, who played in place of Monank, was out for 1 run by Gulshan Jha. Dipendra Singh Airee and Asif combined to run out Mohammad Mohsin for a duck. Dipendra Nosthas dismissed Kenjige for 1 and Harmeet Singh for 14.
Dipendra took 4 wickets for 24 runs in 7.3 overs. In the process, he completed 50 wickets in ODIs. Sompal took 2 wickets for 35 runs in 7 overs with 1 maiden, Sandeep took 41 wickets for 28 runs in 10 overs and Gulshan took 1 wicket each in 4 overs with 28 runs.
