Kathmandu. Nepal defeated Saudi Arabia by 6 wickets in the last match of the group stage of the ACC Premier Cup cricket tournament. With this victory, Nepal, which has already made it to the semi-finals one match ago, has completed its journey to the group stage, remaining undefeated. Batting first, Saudi Arabia scored 73 runs for the loss of seven wickets in a match shortened to eight overs due to rain at Oman’s Al Amerat ground. In reply, Nepal completed the target of 74 runs with four balls remaining. Nepal completed the target with the loss of four wickets in 7.2 overs.
All-rounder Gulsan Jha proved to be the hero again in Nepal’s victory. Playing only 19 balls, he made 32 with two fours and two sixes and led the team to victory. Similarly, captain Rohit Kumar Paudel contributed 16 runs in seven balls with one four and one six. Gulsan and Rohit remained unbeaten. Before that, Nepal was in trouble after losing both the openers cheaply. Nepal lost Kushal Bhurtel in the second ball of the first over. He was dismissed for zero runs. As the second wicket, another opener, Asif Sheikh, returned to the pavilion on the second ball of the second over, and Nepal’s score was only five.
After that, the responsibility fell on the shoulders of Kushal Malla and Dipendra Singh Airi. However, the explosive batsman Kushal was also dismissed for just two runs in five balls, Nepal’s innings was in trouble. However, Nepal returned to the game after Dipendra, who was in the other end, shared a 33-run partnership with Gulsan. Dipendra got out after scoring 17 runs in nine balls. Gulson and captain Rohit completed the rest. Before that, Saudi Arabia scored 73 runs for the loss of seven wickets in eight overs. Abdul Wahid scored the highest 37 runs for him. He hit three sixes and three fours while playing 16 balls. However, other batters could not score runs in double figures. For Nepal, Karan KC and Abhinash Bohra took two wickets each while Pratish JC and Lalit Rajvanshi took one wicket each.
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