KATHMANDU, Oct 26: Vice-captain Gyanendra Malla on Sunday scored first international century of his career as Nepal registered a staggering 190-run win over Singapore and second victory in a row in the ICC WCL Division 3 at the Bayumas Oval, Selangor, in Malaysia.
The number three batsman smashed 114 off 125 as Nepal strengthened its ambition of moving closer to Division 2. Man-of-the-match Gyanendra became the seventh batsman for Nepal to reach the century mark. He scored 13 boundaries and a six for Nepal that posted a challenging target of 264 runs losing nine wickets, put to bat first after losing the toss.
In bowling, medium pacer Sompal Kami and left handed spinner Basanta Regmi pocketed four wickets apiece to bowl out Singapore for 73 runs in 21.4 over. Amrit Bhattarai grabbed two wickets.
The result puts Nepal second on the standings with four points from three matches, two behind leader Uganda. Meanwhile, USA, Malaysia, Singapore and Bermuda have two points each from as many matches played.
In the last matches played between these two sides, Nepal had overcame Singapore by four wicket during Division 4 in Malaysian in 2012.
In other matches of the day, Bermuda beat Malaysia by 37 runs and Uganda edged past USA by 24 runs, both on D\\ method. The defeat of Malaysia and USA, taken as close competitor of Nepal, makes the road to final easier for Nepal. A victory over USA on Monday is likely to secure Nepal´s place in the final with a league match to spare. Nepal faces Malaysia in its last league match on Wednesday.
The top two teams after round robin league plays final and also earn automatic berth to the Division 2. Nepal had faced 20 run defeat against Uganda in the opening match played on Thursday and overcame Bermuda by eight wicket on Friday surpassing the target of 100 run in 11.1 over.
Nepal however, could not make a bright start on Sunday losing its opener Subash Khakurel (0) with just one run on board in the second ball. Gyanendra paired for 72runs with other opener Naresh Budayair (29) and highest 111 run partnership with Sharad Vesawkar (25) for fourth wicket. Gyanendra was caught by Christopher Janik off Mulewa Dharmichand in 43.4 over as the fourth wicket.
Naresh, the second highest scorer for Nepal, hit three boundaries in his patient knock of 59-balls. Skipper Paras Khadka contributed 14 run-19 balls. Sharad hit two fours in his 49-ball knock before being retired hurt. Basanta Regmi and Sagar Pun (not out) contributed equal 21 runs each. Binod Bhandari (8), Sompal (6), Shakti Guachan (5) and Amrit Bhandari (not out 6) contributed for Nepal.
Amjad Mahboob of Singapore bagged four wicket of Nepal in his nine over spell giving away 47 runs. Dharmichand claimed three wickets in his 10-over bowling. He conceded 31 runs with three maiden overs. Anish Paraam pocketed two wickets giving away 66 runs in his 10 over spell.
In the run chase, Singapore lost wickets in regular interval with only four batsmen collecting double digit figure. Chetan Suryavanshi collected highest 15 runs for Singapore. He was trapped leg before by Sompal. Kshitij Shinde (13), Saad Janjua (11) and Abhiraj Singh (not out 12) managed to reach double digit figure.
Basanta came up with economic bowling figure giving away just six runs in his 5.4 over spell with two maiden overs. Sompal came up with three maiden overs in his nine over spell conceding 41 runs. Amrit Gave away 19 runs in his five over bowling.
Source : My Republica
