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Bhandari spins Nepal to big win over Chinese
Nepal got off their Thailand Women’s Twenty20 Smash campaign to a flying start hammering China by 10 wickets at the Asian Institute Technology grounds in Bangkok on Saturday.bookmark
Sports Bureau
Published at : January 13, 2019
Updated at : January 13, 2019 08:12
Kathmandu
Nepal got off their Thailand Women’s Twenty20 Smash campaign to a flying start hammering China by 10 wickets at the Asian Institute Technology grounds in Bangkok on Saturday.
Electing to field first, Karuna Bhandari and Nary Thapa led the way for Nepal with the ball restricting China to just 48-6 in 20 overs. With a low target to chase, openers Kajol Shrestha and Sita Rana Magar did rest of the job in an unbroken 49-run partnership as Nepal chased down the total in just 9.2 overs.
Nepal will now take on Malaysia in their next Group ‘A’ match on Sunday at the Terdthai Cricket Ground where a victory might put them in an edge for the semi-finals. The United Arab Emirate (UAE) and Thailand ‘A’ are the other two teams in Group ‘A’ of the tournament organised by Cricket Association of Thailand.
The top two teams from each five-team group make it to the last four. Group ‘B’ consists of hosts Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Bhutan and Myanmar. The Twenty20 Smash is Nepal’s first international participation after the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifying Series Asia Region in Thailand in November last year.
In the match on Saturday, Nepal didn’t let China batswomen play openly from the start of the innings before former skipper Nary Thapa opened the floodgates. Nary removed Wang Luowanyu (eight) and Zhang Chaan as China’s scores read 23-2 in 10.2 overs. That helped Nepal take a stranglehold in the game with Bhandari striking regularly.
After removing No 3 batswoman Zhang Yanling (seven), Bhandari put Nepal on the edge removing middle order’s Zhou Ying and Zhang Xiangxue for duck in a space of three deliveries. Player-of-the-match Bhandari returned the figures of 3-9 from four overs. Thapa kept a tight line to take 2-6 from four overs with one maiden.
Rana Magar also had one scalp for Nepal. Opener Chan topscored for China making a 38-ball 13 with one hit to the fence, while Li Haoyue was unbeaten on seven from 17 deliveries in her boundary-less innings. Rana Magar did the bulk of scoring in Nepal’s unbroken match-winning 49-run opening wicket partnership with a 25-ball 24 with three boundaries. Shrestha hit a boundary in her 29-ball 14.
Nepal are taking the tournament as a part of preparation for the upcoming ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup Asia Qualifier which is also slated to be held in Thailand from February 18-27. The round-robin league Asia Qualifier will send the winner into the Global Qualifier of the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup and ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2020.
Summary
Nepal 49-0 in 9.2 overs (SR Magar 24 not out, K Shrestha 14 not out) beat China 48-6 in 20 overs (Z Chan 13, W Luowanyu 8; K Bhandari 3-9, N Thapa 2-6, SR Magar 1-9) by 10 wickets
Player-of-the-match: K Bhandari (NEP)
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