Nepal narrowly loses to Scotland by 2 runs in ICC series opener

Nepal was narrowly defeated by Scotland by 2 runs in the first match of the ongoing ICC World Cup League-2 series. Scotland, batting first, set a target of 244 runs in the allotted 50 overs. However, rain affected the match, and Nepal was given a revised target of 221 runs. Nepal fell just short, managing only 218 runs for the loss of 7 wickets.

For Nepal, Dipendra Singh Airee played a half-century innings, scoring 55 runs, while Gulshan Jha remained unbeaten on 61 runs. Jha hit 2 fours and 5 sixes off 35 balls, bringing Nepal close to victory, but ultimately could not secure the win. Apart from them, Karan KC scored 18 runs, and captain Rohit Paudel made 32 runs. Asif Sheikh contributed 21 runs, and Binod Bhandari added 10 runs. Earlier, after winning the toss, Scotland scored 243 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in their 50 overs.

Scotland’s openers had an excellent partnership, with George Munsey and Finlay McCreath putting up 114 runs for the first wicket. However, Sandeep Lamichhane broke this partnership, which slowed down the scoring. Lamichhane dismissed Munsey for 75 runs off 62 balls, which included 12 fours and 2 sixes, in the 20.3 overs. He also took the wicket of McCreath for 35 runs on the last ball of the same over. For Scotland, Michael English remained unbeaten on 34 runs, while Michael Leask scored 29 runs. Matthew Cross added 18 runs, and Mark Watt made 24 runs.

Despite the loss, Nepali bowlers managed to restrict the Scottish players from achieving a higher score with tight bowling in the death overs. Sandeep Lamichhane took 4 wickets for Nepal, while Karan KC claimed 2 wickets and Nandan Yadav took 1 wicket.