Nepal came, saw and conquered at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and controlled proceedings better than Scotland. Nepal did not start well initially as they failed to get a wicket in powerplay and 10 overs before they bounced back and restricted Scotland to a par score and then later chase it down. Michael Jones made 71 but Sompal Kami finished with 3/25 in 4 overs to restrict Scotland to 170/7 where 185-190 looked good at one stage. ‘
In the chase, Nepal rode on a fantastic start from Kushal Bhurtel before a fabulous half century from Dipendra Singh Airee who remained unbeaten till the end and Gulshan Jha played the role of the finisher as well and finished things off as well. Michael Leask picked up all 3 wickets but Scotland fell shot in the end as Nepal created history.
Michael Jones’ magical 71 powered Scotland to 170/7Â
Put into bat first, George Munsey and Michael Jones opened the batting for Scotland while Dipendra Singh Airee had ball in hand for Nepal. Scotland got off to a solid start where it was the Michael Jones show as Munsey played second fiddle and kind of struggled out there going at less than run a ball. But he hung in there so that the opening partnership could flourish. They aced through the powerplay. The score at the end of the powerplay was 52/0 in 6 overs.
Then they carried on beyond the powerplay as they took the score to 80 at the end of 10 overs where the partnership finally ended with Munsey falling for 27 off 29 balls with 4 fours to his name to Rohit Paudel. Brandon McMullen came out to bat next. McMullen was on the move and started enterprisingly while Jones was in the zone to do well. The duo played through the rest of middle phase and took us into the death overs phase.
They put on 52 runs for the second wicket before Jones fell for a magnificent 71 off 45 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes to his name to Sompal Kami. Richie Berrington the captain came out to bat next and here in the death overs phase, Scotland suffered a mini collapse as Nepal came back into the match. The duo of McMullen and Berrington could add only one run to the tally before McMullen fell for 25 off 19 balls with one four and one six to his name to Kami who had two in the over.
Tom Bruce came out to bat next. Berrington and Bruce added 12 more runs to the score before the captain Berrington fell for 10 off 6 balls with one six to his name. Matthew Cross the keeper batter came out to bat next. Cross got off the mark with a boundary as well. 5 runs were added to the tally before Cross fell for 4 off 2 balls with a boundary to his name to Nandan Yadav. Michael Leask came out to bat next.
The duo of Bruce and Leask added another 6 runs to the tally before Bruce fell for 5 off 6 balls as he was cleaned up by Kami. Mark Watt came out to the middle next. Leask and Watt the two spinners batting together added another 6 runs to the tally before Leask fell for 4 off 8 balls to Nandan Yadav. Oliver Davidson came out to bat next and got off the mark off the penultimate ball of the innings.
Mark Watt hit the last ball of the innings for the maximum off Yadav as the ball sailed over the fence. Watt remained unbeaten on 10 off 4 balls with one six to his name while Davidson was unbeaten on 1 off 1 ball. 13 extras given by Nepal bowlers as Scotland were pegged back to 170/7 in 20 overs.
Nepal bowlers came back well with the ball in hand. Sompal Kami was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/25 in 4 overs. Nandan Yadav finished with 2/34 in 4 overs. Rohit Paudel the captain finished with 1/12 in 2 overs. Kushal Bhurtel finished with 1/37 in 4 overs. Dipendra Singh Airee finished with 0/23 in 3 overs. Sandeep Lamichhane finished with 0/29 in 3 overs. This meant that Nepal needed 171 runs to win off 20 overs to get their first win and end the campaign on a high.
Dipendra Singh Airee’s magical unbeaten half-century leads Nepal to a historic first win in World Cup historyÂ
Chasing 171 for the win, Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh came out to open for Nepal while Brandon McMullen had ball in hand for Scotland. The Nepal openers just like the Scotland counterparts got off to a solid start as they did not lose a single wicket in the powerplay overs. Bhurtel was the aggressor of the two while Aasif was happy to compliment him and play second fiddle out there in the middle. Nepal scored more than Scotland in powerplay as they made 56/0 in 6 overs compared to Scotland’s 52/0.
The duo carried on post powerplay and almost played till the completion of over number 10. The duo of Bhurtel and Aasif added 74 runs for the first wicket before Bhurthel the aggressor fell for 43 off 35 balls with one four and 4 sixes to his name to Michael Leask. Captain Rohit Paudel came out to bat next. Rohit and Aasif tried to forge a partnership but could add only 13 runs for the second wicket before Sheikh fell for 33 off 27 balls with 2 sixes to his name to Leask yet again. Dipendra Singh Airee came out to bat next.
Airee started well out there. Airee and Paudel fell added 11 more to the tally before the captain Rohit Paudel fell for 16 off 14 balls with one boundary to his name. Nepal at this stage were 98/3 in 13.2 overs when Gulshan Jha joined Dipendra Singh Airee in the middle. The duo took their time getting in and then there was no looking back. The Nepalese needed 73 runs off 40 balls when the duo came together and then after getting in played their shots.
Both Airee and Jha complimented each other really well and unlike Scotland did not lose wickets in clusters. That really helped Nepal. They kept the required rate under check and did not allow it to surge ahead while they did not lose a wicket as well in this phase. Airee was the main performer with his half-century and finisher Gulshan Jha’s unbeaten 24 made sure that Nepal got over the line in the end in a thriller in Mumbai while Scotland were short of runs.
Airee remained unbeaten on 50 off 23 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes to his name while Jha was unbeaten on 24 off 17 balls with one four and 2 sixes to his name. 5 extras given by the fielding side as Nepal finished with 171/3 in 19.2 overs.
All three wicket went to Michael Leask who went for 20 runs in his final over as he finished with 3/30 in 4 overs. Bradley Currie finished with 0/33 in 4 overs. Oliver Davidson finished with 0/31 in 4 overs. Mark Watt finished with 0/35 in 3 overs. Bradley Wheal finished with 0/34 in 3.2 overs. Brandon McMullen finished with an over for 5 runs. So, Nepal win this match by 7 wickets with 4 balls to spare to create history for Nepal team. Dipendra Singh Airee was awarded the Player of the Match.
What Lies Ahead
So, Nepal finished their campaign with a win and they finish with one win in four games same as Scotland as they bow out of the tournament. More action coming our way as we wind down the group stage of the tournament. 3 more matches comes our way tomorrow. First up we are in New Delhi for a Group D game where South Africa faces UAE at 11 AM IST. This will be followed by two group A games where the first one is important than the evening one.
Pakistan faces Namibia in the afternoon game at the SSC in Colombo at 3 PM IST weather permitting. Then, it will be the turn of defending champions and co-hosts India taking on Netherlands in Ahmedabad at 7 PM IST with India already through to the Super 8s. So, plenty to look forward to on another triple header day with Super 8s on the horizon.
Also Read:Â ICC T20 WC 2026: Nepal Makes A Strong Start To Tricky Run Chase.