Although Nepal XI led by skipper Paras Khadka lost the game to World XI by 37 runs, cricket was the real winner of the day grabbing attention from across the globe and bringing cricketers together for a noble cause that will contribute in Nepal’s bid to recover from the disastrous earthquake. Steve O’Keefe, Australia Test player who plays in the Big Bash League, said he was privileged to be a part of the event.

“A big tragedy brought us together but there are lot of positives to take from it,” said O’Keefe. “It was really a big tragedy that struck Nepal and hopefully our contribution today will bring smiles to their faces and help in the nation’s bid to recovery,” said O’Keefe, who wanted to relate the April 25 disaster with Australian cricket.

“I was watching TV at home in Melbourne and came across the news that was repeatedly being shown,” he recalled. “My thoughts were with my friend Ryan Carters who was in the area for a charity match in Nepal. I quickly messaged him and later on came to know that he had already left the country,” said O’Keefe referring to the Phil Hughes Tribute Match hosted by Nepal on April 11.

Carters, a New South Wales, was a part of the Phil Hughes Tribute Match playing for Nepal ‘Red’ alongside other Australian cricketers at the Tribhuvan University Stadium. “Me and Marcus (Stoinis) were playing against India ‘A’ in India when he received the call from Malaysia to play this game. Since it was for a noble cause, we didn’t hesitate to accept the invitation. It was really exciting to play against a talented bunch of Nepali cricketers. I feel privileged,” added the 30-year old.

Stoinis ended up taking the man-of-the-match award after making a quickfire 48 and picking up a wicket in the low-scoring game. According to Malaysia Cricket Association (MCA), the match was attended by 4,500 supporters with a majority of Nepali fans thronging the ground to see their players take on stars of the world cricket.

It was also one of the biggest events Malaysia had hosted in its recent history. MCA Vice President Nordin Abdullah was excited to see the support the event received. “It is really wonderful to see people showing up for the event. This underlines cricket’s ability to bring people together and unite people,” said Abdullah.

Abdullah informed that the match was able to generate over one million ringgit with Mega Tech College of Kuala Lumpur alone announcing a scholarship of one million for the Nepali students who come to Malaysia on academic purposes. “We will soon send the collected amount to Nepali and hopefully this will also help in the Cricket Association of Nepal’s attempt to fix their infrastructure destroyed by the earthquake,” added Abdhullah.

Nepal lose to World XI by 37 runs

KUALA LUMPUR: Nepal XI lost to a star-studded World XI side by 37 runs in the BatforNepal charity match here on Sunday.

At the Kinrara Oval grounds, World XI were dismissed for 135 in 19.5 overs before a tight bowling from the spinners restricted Nepal to 98 in 19.2 overs. World XI lost their skipper Sanath Jayasuriya (6) early  on before Australian Marcus Stoinis and India’s Venugopal Rao shared 39 runs for the second wicket.

Stoinis top scored 29-ball 43, hitting eight fours and a six. Rao was the next best scorer with 14-ball 23 that included two fours and as many sixes. Avinash Karn, Siddhant Lohani and Sharad Vesawkar picked up two wickets each for Nepal.

Nepal had a slow start and a pressure to score runs and succumbed to the pressure of scoring runs in the middle of the innings. Anil Mandal and Raju Rijal top scored with 17 runs each for Nepal. Suresh Navaratnam took 3-27 with Abdur Razzak (2-11) and Jayasuriya (2-10) sharing four wickets between them in a display of disciplined bowling. (PR)