Oman Stuns Nepal by 5 Runs in Asia Qualifier for T20 World Cup 2024
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Oman's 5-run victory stuns Nepal in the Asia Qualifier for the T20 World Cup 2024, shaking up Nepal's unbeaten run. Player of the Match: Shakeel Ahmed.
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In the 9th match of the Asia Qualifier played at Kirtipur, Kathmandu, for the 2024 T20 Men's Cricket World Cup, Oman stunned home favorite Nepal by 5 runs. With this loss, Nepal finished second in Group B with 4 points behind Oman. This is enough for Nepal to secure the semi-final spot. But this could be the wake-up call for Nepal who were not troubled so far during this series, before the semi-finals.
Batting first Oman made 145 for the loss of nine wickets in their 20 overs. None of Oman's batsmen made any significant contribution with Captain Zeeshan Maqsood top scored with 32 runs from 26 balls. He hit one four and three sixes. Other than him, the other three batsmen made 20-odd runs each.
For Nepal, all the bowlers bowled relatively well. Karan KC took three wickets but was a bit expensive giving away 43 runs in his four overs. Gulshan Jha also leaked 35 runs in his four overs and took one wicket. Other bowlers Sompal Kami, Sandeep Lamichhane, and Abinash Bohara took five wickets between them giving just 64 runs in their combined 12 overs.
Chasing the target, Nepal's batting did not get to a good start losing Aasif Sheikh for just 5 runs at the team's score of 13. Sompal Kami, Captain Rohit Paudel, and Sundeep Jora all scored 12 runs each while Kushal Malla and Karan KC scored 10 and 15 runs respectively. While it was looking all over for Nepal, Bibek Yadav, coming at No. 8, almost took Nepal over the line with an entertaining and explosive innings of 39 runs from just 24 balls. In the end, Nepal fell just short of 6 runs from the target and 5 runs to tie the score.
For Oman, all the bowlers bowled well, except Kaleemullah who finished wicketless and gave thirty-seven runs in three overs. Bilal Khan was the best bowler taking three wickets for thirty runs. Shakeel Ahmed, Mehran Khan, and Aqib LLyas all took two wickets each while Zeeshan Maqsood took one wicket.
Shakeel Ahmed of Oman was declared Player of the Match for his 22 runs from 17 balls and two wickets.