Nepal shared points with hosts Thailand after their opening day match of the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Asia Qualifiers was washed out due to rain in Bangkok on Monday.

Electing to field first at the Terdthai Cricket Ground, Nepal restricted Thailand to 90-6 in 20 overs. Nepal were 10 without loss from 3.4 overs in reply before rain intervened and washed out the remainder of the game. Jyoti Pandey (four) and Sarita Magar (five) were opening the innings for Nepal. 

Earlier, Thailand began their innings briskly after Nattakan Chantam and Sirintra Saengsakaorat (five) collected 19 runs in the first two overs. Skipper Rubin Chhetri applied brakes on the run flow getting rid of Saengsakaorat in the third over. Sarita Magar soon removed opener Chantam and followed her wicket with another dismissal of Nattaya Boochatham (two) in a space of 14 balls as Thailand began to struggle.

Two run outs then reduced Thailand to 42-5 in nine overs but Naruemol Chaiwai anchored the innings with two notable partnerships. She added 26 runs for the sixth wicket with skipper Sornarin Tippoch (15) and unbeaten 22 runs with Chanida Sutthiruang who made a run-a-ball 13. Chaiwai top scored for her side with a 37-ball 23, while opener Chantam struck 18 from 18 hitting the only two boundaries of Thai innings. 

Sarita was the pick of the Nepal bowlers taking 2-11 from four overs, while Chhetri’s figures read 1-22 from four. Nepal will now meet Hong Kong at the same ground on Tuesday. The tournament sends the top two teams into the 2018 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Global Qualifiers to be held in the Netherlands. Two teams after the round robin league will meet in the final. 

In other matches of the day, Hong Kong defeated Malaysia by 35 runs. Batting first, Hong Kong made 77-7 from 20 overs and bundled out Malaysia for 42 in 17 overs. United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, stunned China by 16 runs in a match reduced to five overs due to rain. UAE made 40-1 and stopped China at 24-2.