Nepali batting faltered once again as Nepal lost to Oman by six wickets in their second match of the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 at the Affies Park in Windhoek, Namibia on Friday.

A day after struggling to reach a target of 139 runs against hosts Namibia, Nepali batting crumbled against Oman before they were bundled out for a below-par 138 in 46 overs. Oman played sensibly in chase of a low total and reached 139-4 in 35.1 overs. They had lost to Canada by eight wickets in their first match on Thursday.

Nepal will now meet the tournament favourites United Arab Emirates (UAE) in their third match. A victory over UAE will keep Nepal in hunt for the top two spots that will give them a place in next month’s ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe.

Sompal Kami gave Nepal a positive start in their defence removing opener Swapnil Khadye (one) early on. But Aqib Ilyas and Jatinder Singh (24) consolidated the innings with a 35-run stand for the second wicket. Ilyas played a vigilant innings scoring 46 off 53 before he was bowled by Basanta Regmi. Ilyas struck five boundaries in his innings. Vaibhav Wategaonkar was their next best scorer making a 71-ball 37. He hit one six and shared 42-run unbroken stand for the fifth wicket with Sultan Ahmed, who chipped in 16 off 25 with two fours.

Nepal’s young leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, who had removed another opener Singh, did bowl Khawar Ali in the 27th over but by then it was too late. Lamichhane was impressive in his 10-over spell conceding just 29 runs.

Earlier, Nepal lost opener Gyanendra Malla (seven) with 10 runs on the board before skipper Paras Khadka (17) and DIlip Nath (19) added 28 runs for the second wicket. But Nepal went through a brief collapse losing both the set batsmen along with Aarif Sheikh (six). They were reduced to 56-4 in 22.1 overs.

Sharad Vesawkar and Dipendra Singh Airee halted the slide forging a 36-run partnership before the collapse resumed with the dismissal of the latter. Vesawkar top scored for Nepal with 22 off 39, hitting two boundaries while Airee struck three fours in his 32-ball 20. Sompal Kami was unbeaten on 17 off 25 with two hits to the fence.

Rohit Kumar Paudel made 14 off 42 with one boundary. Man-of-the-match Kaleemullah took 4-28 from 10 overs and Bilal Khan snared 2-13 from his nine miserly overs.

Summary

Oman 139-4 in 35.1 overs (A Ilyas 46, V Wategaonkar 37*; S Lamichhane 2-29, B Regmi 1-32, S Kami 1-31) beat Nepal 138 in 46 overs (S Vesawkar 22, D Airee 20; Kaleemullah 4-28, B Khan 2-13) by six wickets

Manof-the-match: Kaleemullah