Skipper Rubina Chhetry made Nepal’s sour exit from the ICC Women’s Asia Region Qualifier memorable picking up a hat-trick in her team’s 30-run victory over Kuwait in Bangkok on Wednesday.

In a round-robin league tournament where only the table-toppers were assured a place in the Global Qualifiers for the 2020 ICC Twenty20 World Cup and 2021 ICC 50-over World Cup, Nepal finished second with 10 points from six matches. The only defeat inflicted by Thailand in the second match had evaporated all hopes for Nepal to play against competitive teams in the Qualifiers.

Nepal only had mathematical chances of making it through as they needed a favour from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), who needed to beat Thailand by exceedingly huge margin while also requiring themselves a massive victory over Kuwait. The wait was officially over after Thailand cruised to a 50-run victory over the UAE in their last game to finish at the top of the table with 12 points.

Put in to bat first at the Asian Institute of Technology Ground, decent contribution from Bindu Rawal, Chhetri, Nary Thapa and opener Kajol Shrestha led Nepal to 116-7 in 20 overs. Nepal restricted Kuwait to 86-9 after Chhetry became the first Nepali bowler to take hat-trick in Twenty20 International history.

Coming in to bowl the last over when Thailand were virtually out of the game needing 35 runs, Chhetri dismissed Khajidja Khalil (one), Madeeha Zuberi (duck) and Zeefa Jilani (naught) to record herself in history books. It was fourth hat-trick for Nepal in women’s cricket that began with Chhetri herself who had taken a treble against Singapore in the 2009 ACC Twenty20 Women’s Championship in Singapore.

Chhetri had claimed five wickets in that match against Singapore, also in the last over. Karuna Bhandari then emulated Chhetry’s feat taking hat-trick against Thailand in the 2011 ACC Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Kuwait. Shabnam Rai is the other cricketer to take a treble which she did against China in the 2017 Asia Cup Qualifier in Thailand. Former national team left-arm spinner Shakti Gauchan is the only Nepali men’s cricketer to get a hat-trick while claiming the landmark against Denmark during the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers in the UAE.

Thapa gave Nepal the first breakthrough, clean bowling opener Sabreen Zaki (12) before a 40-run second wicket partnership between skipper Maryam Omar and Priyada Murali (14) kept Kuwait in the game. A run out of Murali off Rawal then sparked a collapse for Kuwait. Karuna Bhandari picked up three middle order wickets including that of Kuwait top scorer Omar as they lost eight wickets in a space of 23 runs. Player-of-the-match Chhetri returned the figures of 3-17 from four overs and Bhandari snared 3-12 from her three. Omar made a 36-ball 29 hitting three boundaries.

Earlier Nepal’s top order was led by Shrestha, who made a 16-ball 18 hitting two boundaries. Nepal, however, were heading towards a collapse at 46-5 in 8.1 overs before Rawal and Nary resurrected their innings. The two batswomen added 37 runs for the sixth wicket as Nepal approached triple figures.

Thapa scored a run-a-ball 19 with three fours before getting bowled by Murali. After her departure, Chhetri and Rawal guided Nepal to an imposing total with a 33-run sixth wicket partnership with the captain doing most of the scoring. Chhetri struck three fours in her 13-ball 22, while Rawal was unbeaten on 28 off 49 with one hit to the fence. Oman and Murali picked up two wickets each for Kuwait.

Summary

Nepal 116-7 in 20 overs (B Rawal 28*, R Chhetry 22*, N Thapa 19*; M Omar 2-24, P Murali 2-19) beat Kuwati 86-9 in 20 overs (M Omar 29, P Murali 14; R chhetry 3-17, K Bhandari 3-12)

by 30 runs

Player-of-the-match: R Chhetry