Brilliant Khadka boosts Nepal"s semifinal hopes

NABIN KHATIWADA

KATHMANDU, March 30: Skipper Paras Khadka”s brilliant innings helped Nepal seal a 19-run victory over Malaysia in the ACC T20 Cup on Saturday and strenghthen its semifinal chances.

As Nepal and Malaysia are to face relatively weaker teams of the tournament in their last group-stage matches and Nepal has a better net run rate in the tournament, Saturday”s match was considered a virtual quarterfinal.

Malaysia elected to field first at the TU Cricket Ground but Nepali skipper Khadka”s valiant knock of 87 runs off 54 balls helped Nepal reach 163/8 in 20 overs. In reply, Malaysia reached only 144/9 though Shafiq Sharif tried to boost Malaysian hopes by scoring 53 runs off 38 balls.

Nepal could not get off to a good start as opener Pradeep Airee was out for a duck in the very first over and Vice-captain Gyanendra Malla added only two runs before Nazril Rahman”s slow inswinger deceived him. Nepal was at 16/2 by 2.1 overs but skipper Khadka not only anchored the Nepali innings but also accelerated the scoring. Opener Subash Khakurel (25 runs off 23 balls) and Khadka put up a 48-run partnership for the third wicket. Khadka then shared a 49-run fourth-wicket partnership with Binod Bhandari. Bhandari scored 20 runs off 16 balls with two fours and a six.

Khadka struck 11 fours and three sixes before Ahmed Faiz caught him at long-off in Hassan Ghulam”s delivery. Malaysian skipper Suhan Kumar had a chance to catch Khadka at mid-off when he was on 79 runs but Kumar could not reach the ball despite a valiant dive. Khadka reached his half-century hitting a four off Shahrulnizam Yusof with a skilful cut to third man in the fifth ball of the 12th over. He faced 34 balls to reach the half-century mark.

It was Khadka”s fourth half-century in T20. Earlier, Khadka had scored half-centuries against Hong Kong (68), Bermuda (unbeaten 65) and Papua New Guinea (62) during the ICC World T20 Qualifiers in 2012.

Khadka”s 87-run knock is the all-time second-highest individual score by a Nepali batsman in T20 at the international level. Earlirer, Mehboob Alam had scored 88 runs against Saudi Arabia during the ACC T20 Cup in 2011.

Prithu Baskota scored seven runs off eight balls while Shakti Gauchan remained unbeaten on six runs off four balls.

Malaysian bowler Nazril Rahman, Khizar Hayat Durrani, Shahrulnizam Yusof and Hassan Ghulam claimed two wickets each.

Defending the 164-run target, Nepali bowlers picked wickets at regular intervals as Malaysia fell 19 runs short of the target. Basant Regmi bowled Faizal Abu Hassan (6 runs) in the second over, when Malaysia was at 20/0. Sanjam Regmi caught Suharril Fetri (6 runs) at long-on boundary off Prithu Baskota in the fourth over.

Malaysian opener Hammad Ullah Khan (33 runs off 18 balls) was also caught by Gyanendra Malla at deep mid-wicket off Baskota as the third Malaysian wicket in the second ball of the sixth over.

To add to Malaysia”s woes, its captain Suhan Kumar was run out in a bizarre fashion for only one run. Ahmed Faiz didn”t leave the crease even though Kumar had completed the run. Kumar is considered the most destructive Malaysian batsman. Faiz was out in the first ball of the 11th over adding 19 runs off 20 balls. Faiz was caught by Basanta Regmi at long-on off Shakti Gauchan.

For Malaysia, the highest partnership was the 31-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Shafiq Sharif and Hassan Ghulam (10 runs off seven balls). Ghulam was caught by Basanta Regmi at long-off boundary off pacer Chandra Sawad in 18.3 overs. Baskota had dropped Ghulam at long-on boundary in the previous delivery.

Sharif tried to anchor the Malaysian innings at first and then accelerate the run scoring with four boundaries and two sixes during his unbeaten knock of 53 off 38 balls but he was helpless as wickets kept falling at the other end.

Baskota and Sanjam Regmi claimed two wickets each while Sawad, Basanta Regmi and Gauchan took a wicket each.

Nepali captain Khadka, who was also involved in two runouts, was adjudged the man-of-the-match. Khadka was involved in the run-out of Malaysian captain Kumar and Durrani (nine runs).

´I am happy to contribute to the team. We were committed not to let our hard work of the last three months go in vain and it was a team performance more than an individual effort,´ said Khadka.

Khadka received Rs 60,000 for his performance on Saturday. He received Rs 50,000 from Global Model Visa Consultancy, which had promised to provide the sum to any Nepali batsman scoring more than 75 runs in a match. Likewise, he received Rs 10,000 from the venue management committee for being the man-of-the-match .´Paras (Khadka) is the best captain of the tournament and he played a good innings today (Saturday),´ said Malaysian coach Roy Luke Dias, who was the coach of the Nepali national team for 10 years before Pubudu Dassanayake took charge. ´The innings played by Paras changed the game while the run-out of Suhan Kumar turned out to be unfortunate for my side,´ added Dias.

Meanwhile, Nepali team coach Dassanayake said his side put up a good performance as per his plans. ´I am not surprised with today”s outcome. Malaysia didn”t give up until the last moment but our players performed as expected to beat them,´ said Dassanayake.

With the win, Nepal strengthened its chances of qualifying for the semifinals as it has four points from three matches. Hong Kong, which remained undefeated in all the four matches of the group stage, is at the top of the points table with eight points. Malaysia is in the third place with two points from three matches and a better net run rate than the Maldives, which also has two points from three matches.

Nepal is to take on bottom-placed Singapore in its last group-stage match on Sunday while Malaysia is to face the Maldives. If Nepal wins Sunday”s match, it will reach the last four irrespective of any result in the match between Malaysia and the Maldives. Even if Nepal loses, its fate will be decided on the basis of net run rate.

The top two teams of the tournament, along with the UAE and Afghanistan, will qualifty for the ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2013. The UAE has already secured berth in the qualifiers as the host while Afghanistan has guaranteed qualification as a nation with ODI status.

Brilliant Khadka boosts Nepal"s semifinal hopes