Nepal won their third match of the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 underway at Windhoek, Namibia against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by 4 wickets on Sunday. Nepal achieved the target in the 29th over.

Earlier, the UAE had set a target of 115 runs to Nepal in a match that had been reduced to 34 overs due to damp outfield.

Captain Paras Khadka was the star batsman for Nepal as he completed his 6th half-century in List A games and scored 51 runs from 48 balls. Coming in third, Khadka stayed firm in the pitch and strengthened the Nepal innings.

Nepal began their innings with a nervous start as Gyanendra Malla’s opening partner Dilip Nath went back to the pavilion in 2.5 overs after scoring just two runs.

In the very next over, Malla followed Nath as the former was caught behind the wickets by Ghulam Shabber off Amir Hayat’s delivery.

Dipendra Singh Airee also could not garner much runs as he was bowled by Mohammad Naveed for 4 in 6.5 overs. The fourth one to go was Sharad Vesawkar and he was trapped for a leg before by Rohan Mustafa in 12.5 overs after scoring 3 runs.

For Nepal, Aarif Sheikh scored 16 runs before being trapped for a leg before in 27.1 overs.

Earlier during the UAE innings, Nepali bowler Sompal Kami was successful in claiming four UAE wickets. He took the first UAE wicket of Ashfaq Ahmeh who was out for a duck in the third ball of the first over. In 6.3 over Kami again took the wicket of Ghulam Shabber and in the 29th over Mohammad Naveed became the victim at the hands of Kami.

Kami claimed his 4th wicket of Ahmed Raza who is caught by Gyanendra Malla in 30.6 overs.

Sandeep Lamichhane who was introduced in the 18th over lived up to his name as the Nepali bowling sensation and claimed the wickets of Rameez Shahzad and Muhammad Usman in 17.2 and 17.3 overs respectively and was on a hat-trick. He, however, missed his chance for a hat-trick. Lamichhanne also took the wicket of Shaiman Anwar, highest scorer for UAE with 30 runs, in the 22nd over.

Similarly, skipper Paras Khadka also joined in the party as he claimed the wickets of Mohammad Boota (15 runs) and Adnan Mufti (18) runs.

Likewise, Karan KC took the third wicket of Rohan Mustafa in the first ball of eighth over.