USA started their tour of Middle-East on a positive note as they beat a higher ranked opponent, Nepal, by 5 wickets in the 1st match of a Tri-Nation tournament involving Kenya at Nursery Oval 2 ground in Abu Dhabi.
Nepal batted first and were in trouble throughout their innings as none of the batsmen got going in the knocks.
Basant Regmi (21) was the top scorer for Nepal with Dilip Nath (16) getting some runs at the top of the order. Sharad Vesawkar stood in as captain for Nepal in this match in Paras Khadka’s absence as he chose to be the 12th man for this game.
Japen Patel (4/8 from 4.3) wrecked the top order with early strikes and got good support from (2/19 off 6) and Nosthush Kenjige (2/20 off 6.3) as Nepal got bowled out for only 89 runs in 36.1 overs. Adil Bhatti also picked up a solitary wicket on his debut for USA.
Nepal got back into things picking up 2 wickets with USA heading to Lunch at 27/2 in 6.3 overs, with Sompal Kami picking up both the scalps.
USA lost Ibrahim Khaleel shortly after play resumed after lunch with USA placed at 40/3 in the 10th over. However, opener Syed Abdullah went about his work and played freely to score 44 runs before getting out to Sagar Pun, who collected 2 quick wickets to reduce USA to 64/5 in the 17th over.
Roy Silva showed positive intent as he hit Sagar for 2 sixes and took USA to victory finishing with 25 n.o with Timil Patel as company as USA reached 94/5 in 22.3 overs to win the low scoring contest by 5 wickets.
