In what will be their first major appearance in a Global ICC event after WorldT20 in 2014 in Bangladesh, Nepali dreams have come true as they defeated Canada in the final round of group stage matches to emerge on top of points table and qualify for ICC World Cup Qualifiers in Mar 2018 in Zimbabwe.
In a crucial match for both Nepal and Canada, the experienced players did not turn on the heat and it was rather the inexperienced and young players in both the teams, who provided some real solid cricket action on the field. Too bad that all these matches were not broadcasted via TV or via online streaming.
Paras Khadka won the toss for Nepal and invited Canada to take first strike on the pitch with bowling being the stronger suite for Nepal. And the Canadian innings comprised of one of the most stylish List-A centuries under pressure from Srimantha Wijeratne, who stayed form the start of the innings till the end with an unbeaten knock of 103 runs from 152 deliveries. The rest of the top-order fell to Sandeep Lamichhane and Basant Regmi as Canada rallied around Wijeratne’s runs to keep the scoreboard ticking at 90/4 in the 27th over.
Hamza Tariq (24 off 30) provided the much required support to Srimantha, but eventually perished to Karan KC. With Canada losing few more wickets in a cluster, they somehow reached 161/8 in the 45th over. They managed to add further 34 runs in the last 5 overs with Satsimranjit Dhindsa (18 n.o off 19) providing crucial runs down the order and in the company of Wijeratne, taking Canada to their eventual total of 195/8 in their 50 overs.
Basant Regmi (3/34) producing yet another crucial spell when needed most and Sandeep Lamichhane provided good back-up, picking up 2/40 in the process.
Much was expected out of senior statesmen, Gyanendra Malla, Paras Khadka & Sharad Veswakar to do the bulk of the scoring; however, not to many that will come as a surprise but all three failed to click on one of the most important days of Nepal cricket history. It was left to the youngsters in the team with Dilip Nath contributing 41 runs off 68 runs. Cecil Pervez and Saad bin Zafar doing all the damage picking up all the 5 wickets to fall for Nepal between them.
At 81/5 in the 25th over, it again came down to the winning duo for Nepal in their previous match against Kenya, Aarif Sheikh and Rohit Paudel, to dig out of the hole created by the top-order batsmen and they both responded in some style. The duo took Nepal to 115/5 in the 34th over when the heavens opened up and play was halted with Nepal 10 runs behind on Duckworth/Lewis par score.
Fortunately for Nepal, the rain break didn’t last for a long time and play resumed shortly after a small break with Sheikh and Rohit again starting the rebuilding process. They both put on 46 runs for the 6th wicket before Rohit (27 off 42) fell to Dhindsa to let Canada come back again in the match with Nepal at 127/6 in the 38th over. More misfortune struck as Sompal Kami got out to Nikhil Dutta with Nepal stranded at 142/6 in the 41st over. Basant Regmi too failed to open his account as Nepal slid further down.
Then came the biggest hit with Aarif Sheikh getting out at the same score with Nepal down and out at 144/9 and see their World Cup dreams fade away.
Oh no, u don’t says Karan KC, who is now the toast of the nation as he played the biggest knock of his career blasting 42 runs off only 34 deliveries including 4 big sixes to win the match for Nepal as they reached 195/9 in the final ball of the innings.
There was high drama at the start of the last over with Nepal still needing 8 off 6 deliveries. Cecil Pervez bowled four brilliant dot balls to bring the equation down to 8 from 2 deliveries. Karan, knew that only a boundary or six will do or else there will be too much to do on he final delivery.
And he delivered with a huge six off the penultimate ball. With 2 needed of the final delivery, Cecil and Hamza got into a discussion and then came the shocker.
A rank wide ball on the final delivery!! And scores were tied!! Oh, what Drama!! No other second chances to come for Nepal as Karan and Sandeep Lamichhane scampered for the single on the final delivery and got that to the uproar of a whole nation on their toes anticipating the Nepali delight. World Cup Qualifiers, here comes Nepal.
