KATHMANDU, Feb 2: Dipendra Singh Airee made a triumphant return to form guiding Nepal to four-wicket victory in second Twenty20 International (T20I) played against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at ICC Academy in Dubai on Friday.
Nepal that had lost the first match on Thursday chased 108 runs to equal the three-match series 1-1.
The middle-order batsman could score only a total of 16 runs during the historic three-match One-Day International (ODI) series played last week, however on Friday stayed unbeaten on 47 runs in a innings to take Nepal home sharing a crucial partnership of 55 runs with debutant all-rounder Pawan Sarraf who contributed important 18 runs. Dipendra had scored 4 runs in the first T20I Thursday.
Nepal was struggling at 46 runs for the loss of five wickets at 10.1 overs.
Dipendra faced 41 deliveries in a matured approach smashing four boundaries and a six in the second ball of the last over when 7 was required from 5 deliveries.
He sealed the match in third delivery upper-cutting the short ball delivered by Zahoor Khan. Karan KC, promoted to number three, who scored 20 runs from 23 deliveries including two fours and a six, was the only other double-digit scorer of the innings. Wicket-keeper batsman Pradeep Airee, vice-captain Gyanendra Malla, skipper Paras Khadka and playing his second match Sundeep Jora were out for 8, 7, duck and 1 runs respectively to leave Nepal struggling at the halfway stage.
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Sarraf smashed two boundaries during his 24-ball stay to complete a tricky chase to help Dipendra win the match for Nepal.
Left arm spinner Sultan Ahmed was pick of the bowlers for the UAE dismissing Malla and Jora in his miserly spell of four overs conceding nine runs.
Similarly, skipper Mohammad Naveed, Zahoor, Amir Hayat and Imran Haider shared a wicket each in a losing cause.
Earlier, the UAE won the toss and invited Nepal to bowl first. Nepal made two changes bringing in young Sarraf for Rohit Kumar Paudel and Lalit Rajbanshi in place of Basant Regmi.
Sompal Kami scalped opening batsman Ashfaq Ahmed and number three batsman Ghulam Shabber to provide Nepal a boosting start to the match.
Similarly, the moment of the bowling innings came when spin sensation Sandeep Lamichhane dismissed first match’s player of the match Shaiman Anwar and dependable batsman Mohammad Usman in back to back deliveries.
He was denied hat-trick by Mohammad Boota but new batsman soon followed hold out at short long on by Sarraf off Karan KC.
Anwar scored 14 runs, Usman registered a golden duck and Boota made 11 runs in the match.
However, the star bowler of the day was Avinash Bohora who delivered pinpoint Yorkers and immaculate line and lengths to dismiss three key batsmen.
Opening batsman CP Rizwan who top-scored 44 runs was well-settled at the crease was dismissed in 19th over who could have been dangerous at the end of the innings.
Likewise, pinch-hitters Naveed and Hayat became Bohora’s second and third scalps of the day to round off a bowling spell of four overs conceding 20 runs in second half of the innings.
Naveed and Hayat, known for their big-hitting, contributed seven and three runs respectively. Rajbanshi and Sarraf were wicketless in their three and one over respectively.
Nepal and the UAE will face off for one final time in the bilateral series on Sunday to decide the winner of the T20 leg. Last week, Nepal had won the ODI series 2-1 after losing the first match against the same team.
