Aasif Sheikh struck an unbeaten 86 to see Nepal home in a nervy chase against Papua New Guinea

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Aasif Sheikh struck an unbeaten 86 from the top of the order to see Nepal home in a nervy chase against Papua New Guinea in the fourth ODI of the penultimate CWC League 2 trilateral series at Dubai, keeping Nepal’s hopes of a top three finish and direct progression to the World Cup Qualifier alive. Despite a string of single-figure scores for the rest of the top-order, Sheikh batted through the innings, finally finding support from Kushal Malla and Sandeep Lamichhane to take Nepal past the 180-run target with three wickets and two overs to spare.

 

Tony Ura top-scored for the Barramundis with 39, his opening stand with Kiplin Doriga taking PNG to 41 without loss after the powerplay. Eventually, Lamichhane had Doriga LBW on the sweep with his third ball. Ura pressed on with Sese Bau but when the latter fell victim to the first of three run outs in the innings, the batting began to unravel. Sompal Kami snagged a low drive from Ura in his follow-through three overs later, before Kushal Malla had Asad Vala pinned LBW for 11. Hiri Hiri mustered some resistance to grind out 31 off 63 from number five but had little support from the lower order; PNG eventually bowled out for 179 in just 36.3 overs.

 

Nepal’s chase began inauspiciously as Kushal Bhurtel went first ball, struck in front of leg stump by Semo Kamea and given LBW. Gyanendra Malla was well caught by Hekure at square leg off Kamea in the fifth, and the Nepal top order seemed shell-shocked. Runs were as rare as the wickets were regular; Vala taking three in succession as Nepal struggled to 53-5 after 18 overs. Sheikh dug in even as his partners came and went however, and finally found a partner in Kushal Malla, the pair adding 31 for the 7th wicket to drag Nepal past triple figures.

 

Malla became Bau’s second wicket, prodding a return catch back to the bowler on the last ball of the 32nd to leave Sheikh to finish the chase with the tail. Sheikh brought up his fifty in Bau’s next over punching down the ground for one, as together with Lamichhane he continued to whittle away at the total. Sheikh took Nepal past 150 tucking Riley Hekure to leg in the 43rd, and the pair brought up the fifty partnership soon after; the unbroken seventh wicket stand eventually worth 77 with Lamichhane finishing on 35 off 50 and Sheikh 86 off 130.

 

The win keeps Nepal in the hunt for a podium finish in the competition, though they will need to go unbeaten through their remaining five matches to overtake Namibia and the UAE. A more immediate target will be pushing the USA into 6th place; Nepal needing three more wins to pass the Americans and thus safeguard their ODI status for next cycle. PNG, who are guaranteed the wooden spoon in the competition, take on fifth-placed UAE on Sunday, while Nepal play the Emiratis the following day to conclude the series before the three teams move on to Kathmandu for the final trilateral series of the competition.

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