Swashbuckling knocks from young guns Dipendra Singh Airee and Sagar Pun steer Nepal to a massive 176-run win over Bloomfield Cricket Club in a friendly cricket match in Colombo on Friday.

The Nepali team is in Sri Lanka as part of their preparation for the ACC Asia Cup Qualifier scheduled for August 29 to September 6 in Malaysia. Nepal had opened the tour with a 67-run victory over Army Cricket Team in Panagoda, Colombo on Wednesday.

On Friday, Nepal rode on prolific battling display from Airee, who struck a century, and Pun, who fell eight runs short of his ton, to post a mammoth 323-8 in 50 overs. Bloomfield were tottering at 134-9 in 38 overs when bad light ended the proceeding handing Nepal a 176-run victory under Duckworth-Lewis method. Nepal will now play against Colts Cricket Club on Sunday before embarking on the Asia Cup Qualifiers campaign.

Nepal will play the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Singapore, Oman and Hong Kong in the Qualifier which will send the champions into Group ‘A’ of next month’s Asia Cup that includes sub-continent archrivals India and Pakistan. Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are in Group ‘B’ of the Asia Cup which will be hosted by the UAE from September 15-28.

Nepal lost opener Anil Kumar Mandal (17) early in the fifth over to be 22-1 and skipper Paras Khadka stepped in to put on a quick 35 runs with Subash Khakurel. But at 57, the Nepal skipper lost his wicket to Raveen Pieris after scoring run-a-ball 23 before two more wickets of Khakurel and Rohit Kumar Paudel (11) appeared to derail their proceedings at 84-4.

However, Airee and Pun had other ideas and the duo put on a massive 185-run stand for the fourth wicket to give Nepal a commanding position. Airee in particular was at his best clobbering the local bowlers to all parts of the ground. Airee struck five sixes and nine boundaries in his 96-ball 121 before finally falling prey to Sanoj Dharshika in the penultimate ball of their innings. Pun also hit three sixes and eight fours in his 83-ball innings but lost his wicket to Sachin Jayawardena in the 46th over.

Karan KC also played a 26-run cameo, slamming four boundaries and a six in his 12-ball knock to propel the Nepali total. Dharshika was pick of the Bloomfield bowlers with figures of 3-44 while Lahiru Sanjay Fernando took 2-60.

Bloomfield chase never really took off after losing their opener Ruwin Pieris in the last ball of their first over, bowled by Lalit Bhandari. Although Pieris’ opening partner scored 30 and Dharshika made 38, none of the other Bloomfield batmen were able to play freely before bad light finally put an end to the batting misery. Pun also shone with ball, taking 3-16 from eight overs. Bhandari took two while skipper Khadka, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, Pun and Paudel claimed one wicket each.

Summary

Nepal 323-8 in 50 overs (DS Airee 121, S Pun 92; S Dharhika 3-44, LS Fernando 2-60) beat Bloomfield 134-9 in 38 overs (S Dharshika 38, S Jayawardene 30; S Pun 3-16, L Bhandari 2-31) by 176 runs under Duckworth Lewis method