Skipper Paras Khadka, Gyanendra Malla and Dipendra Singh Airee all hit explosive half centuries as Nepal crushed East London Sharks by 134 runs in a Twenty20 practice match on Thursday.

Nepal, who will now participate in a one-day Twenty20 Triangular Tournament at the Lord’s on July 29, finished their four practice matches winning three – two of them in 50-overs – and losing one of the two Twenty20 matches. Nepal will play Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the Netherlands in a Twenty20 Triangular Tournament as the team returns to the iconic Lord’s cricket ground after two years.

Sharks’ decision to bat first backfired after three of Nepal’s top four batsmen scores runs at will to post a mammoth 251-4 in 20 overs. The hosts, in reply, were restricted to 117-9 in their 20.

Leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane paralysed the Shark attack after he picked up three wickets in his first over and the team’s fifth to reduce the local side to 22-4. Sharks hardly recovered from the early setback and left arm seamer Lalit Singh Bhandari virtually threw them out of the contest picking up two wickets in a single over reducing the opponents to 46-6 inside 11 overs.

Taqi Abbas staged a late fight for Sharks making a 24-ball 32 before falling prey to Sharad Vesawkar. Hafiz Yawar (26 off 23) was their next best scorer. Sandeep returned the misery figures of 3-2 from three overs including a maiden and Lalit snared 2-25 from four.

Nepal lost opener Anil Sah (eight), who had struck a scintillating century against East London XI in a 50-over game on Wednesday, with 28 runs on the board. Skipper Paras stepped in and quickly cleared his intent accelerating the innings with a solid 104-run partnership for the second wicket with Gyanendra.

Paras struck seven boundaries and five sixes in his 30-ball 67. Gyanendra then shared another 51 runs for the third wicket with Dipendra. Gyanendra top scored for Nepal with a 47-ball 75 that included six sixes and five boundaries. Nepal soon lost new man Aarif Sheikh (two) but that hardly mattered as Dipendra went on a late onslaught.

Dipendra hit six sixes and four boundaries and reached his half century in just 22 balls like his skipper. He finished on 67 not out from 26 balls and added 61 runs for the fifth wicket with Rohit Kumar Paudel (12). Salik Akbar took two wickets for Sharks.

Summary

Nepal 251-5 in 20 overs (G Malla 75, P Khadka 67, DS Airee 67 not out; S Akbar 2-42, A Haroon 1-15) beat East London Sharks 117-9 in 20 overs (T Abbas 32, H Yawar 26; S Lamichhane 3-2, LS Bhandari 2-25) by 134 runs