Nepal’s dominating performance in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier Asia (Eastern Region) continued in Malaysia as they humiliated a hapless Chinese side by 10 wickets at the Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Wednesday.

The thumping victory means Nepal have now completed the formality of qualifying for the Asia Region Qualifier for the 2020 ICC World Twenty20 in Australia. The United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait—top three teams from Western Region Qualifier—along with Nepal, Singapore and one among Thailand or Malaysia will compete in Asia Qualifier—the second round of qualification for the World Twenty20.

Only the top two teams from the six-team Asia Region Qualifier will qualify for the Global Qualifiers. The venue and date for the Asia Region and Global Qualifiers are yet to be set. Nepal currently lead the Eastern Region table on net run rate after they were tied on 10 points with Singapore. Nepal and Singapore meet in the final round robin league on Friday to decide the champions.

In the match at the Bayuemas Oval, Nepal elected to field first and their spin trio of Sandeep Lamichhane, Basanta Regmi and Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi took three wickets each dismissing China for just 26 runs in 13 overs. It was the fourth time that a team was dismissed below 40 runs against Nepal in the tournament.

Opener Binod Bhandari did the rest after he hammered 24 runs in just eight deliveries leading Nepal to 29 without loss in 1.5 overs. The 11-ball victory is so far the fastest for Nepal in the tournament and fastest overall in terms of a full 20-over game. Nepal collected 21 runs from the first over bowled by Tian Sen Qun.

Earlier, Rajbanshi gave Nepal the breakthrough with dismissing opener Ning Sun for a duck in the second over.

Another opener Hong Jiang Yan fought briefly while forging a 15 runs stand for the second wicket with Chen Jinfeng (one). However, with the dismissal of Jinfeng off Lamichhane, China lost nine wickets for addition of just five runs.

Lamichhane returned the figures of 3-4 from four overs and Regmi took 3-5 from his four. Rajbanshi took 3-12 from three. Lamichhane returned with the man-of-the-match, the third honour for him in Nepal’s five matches. The leg spin prodigy has so far picked up 20 wickets in the event.

Lamichhane is almost certain to finish as tournament’s leading wicket taker with his closest competitor Manpreet Singh of Singapore sitting second with 11 wickets. He has so far competed two five-wicket hauls—one against Malaysia and the other against Thailand.

Summary

Nepal 29-0 in 1.5 overs (B Bhandari

24 not out, P Airee 4 not out) beat China 26 all out in 13 overs (S Lamichhane 3-4, B Regmi 3-5, LN Rajbanshi 3-12)

by 10 wickets

Man-of-the-match: S Lamichhane (NEP)