Shakti bowls Nepal to win

Just Nepali Cricket/October 20

Left arm spinner Shakti Gauchan grabbed three wickets of Invitational XI team of Delhi to limit them and made run chase easy for Nepali team at seventh Twenty20 friendly practice match played at Bharat Nagar Cricket Ground, in New Delhi.

Shakti Gauchan of Nepali team bowling against Invitational XI at the friendly practice match at Bharat Nagar Cricket Ground, New Delhi on Tuesday. Shakti took major three wickets of mixed team of Delhi. Photo: Raman Shiwakoti/CAN

Paras Khadka asked Invitational XI team to bat first after winning the toss. Delhi based openers easily faced first five over bowled by Nepali pacer. However, Shakti Gauchan caught and bowled Hiten Dalal in second ball that he bowled. He removed another opener Sandip Kaushik in eighth over. Those two wickets hurt Invitational team, as they were not able to recover from there and handed regular wickets to Nepali bowlers.

Skipper Shakib Alam top scored 18 runs for Invitational team. Hiten, Vikash Dixit and Sandeep made 13, 13 and 11 runs respectively. Shakti returned with gorgeous bowling figure of 4-1-09-3. Basanta Regmi took two wickets. Amrit Bhattarai, Jitendra Mukhiya and Paras Khadka shared a wicket each.

At second inning, Nepali opener Pradeep Airee fluently scored runs by hitting ball all over the ground. Pradeep dispatched ball for 2 sixes and a four to score 24 runs in just 21 balls though Subash Khakurel failed in batting once again. Nepal felt little tense as both openers departed within eighth over. Nevertheless, middle order batsmen duo Gyanendra Malla and Paras Khadka steers team to safe zone by adding 36 runs patiently. Malla contributed highest 33 runs and Khadka added 21 runs for the team. Binod Bhandari (03) and Sharad Vesawkar (00) remained unbeaten and finished the game at 19^th over. Vikash Dixit took two Nepali wickets. Nitish Rana and Mohammad Azharuddin obtained a wicket each.

Nepal will play another match at same venue on 31 October. 


Brief summary:

Nepal Vs Invitational XI
7th Twenty20 Match (29th October 2013)
Venue: Bharatnagar Academy Ground, New Delhi
Toss won by Nepal and elected to field first.

Invitational XI 91/9 (20 overs)
Batting:
Shakib Alam 18 (15), Hiten Dalal 13 (19), Vikash Dikshit 13 (19)
Bowling:
Shakti Gauchan 3/9, Basanta Regmi 2/19, Amrit Bhattarai 1/14
Nepal 92/4 (19 overs)
Batting:
Gyanendra Malla 33 (39), Pradeep Airee 24 (21), Paras Khadka 21 (36)
Bowling:
Vikash Dixit 2/19, Nitish Rana 1/10, Mohammad Azharuddin 1/17

Result: Nepal won the match by six wickets.