Kathmandu: Asif Shaikh’s century, Arjun Saud’s half-century and a brilliant win against Kenya. Rohit Kumar Paudel, who made his debut as a captain, has received an unforgettable ‘birthday gift’ of his cricket career.
After Nepal’s regular captain Sandeep Lamichhane went to West Indies to play in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Rohit Kumar got the opportunity to captain Nepal’s senior team.
Rohit tasted victory on his captaincy debut, that too on his own birthday. Asif and Arjun scored their first century and half-century respectively in the first ODI of the Nepali team visiting Kenya on Friday. It will not get international recognition.
With the excellent bowling of fast bowlers Sompal Kami and Karan KC, Nepal bowled out Kenya for 218 runs. With the help of Asif’s 110 and Arjun’s 61 runs, Nepal achieved the target by losing 3 wickets before 14 balls and won by 7 wickets.
After the match, Rohit Kumar said that victory was possible due to everyone’s performance. He also praised the fast bowler, Asif and Arjun.
According to the conditions, Karan and Sompal Dai had to perform well. Sitting in the dugout and watching Asif and Arjun’s game, it was brilliant,” said Rohit, “but everyone played well.”
Rohit didn’t have to do much in batting on Friday because the batsmen in the previous order were gone. Rohit, who reached the batting crease in the 44th over after Asif Sheikh was dismissed, scored 3 unbeaten runs in just 6 balls.
He performed excellently in fielding. He ran out Collins Abuya of Kenya and took one catch.
The frozen couple of Asif and Arjun
In the first two T20 Internationals against Kenya, Asif opened with Paban Sharraf. Asif was rested from the third match, Arjun took the opportunity. He opened with Pawan in the third and fourth match and shared with Gyanendra Malla in the last T20. The last partnership was successful.
In ODIs, Asif and Arjun became. Young wicketkeeper Arjun Saud made his T20 international debut and opened the game. The pair shared 141 runs in 31.1 overs with Asif and Arjun for the first wicket, which is the highest partnership for Nepal in a 50-over match so far.
Earlier last March, Dev Khanal and Dipendrasingh Airi shared 129 runs for the third wicket against Papua New Guinea.
However, due to Kenya’s lack of one-day international recognition, this game will not be recognized as one-day international.
Asif played 120 balls and scored 110 runs with the help of 12 fours and 2 sixes. This is Asif’s first century for Nepal in any format.
Similarly, 19-year-old Arjun, who made his debut in the 50-over match for Nepal, scored 61 runs with 5 fours and 1 six off 97 balls. Ashif shared a 57-run partnership with Gyanendra Malla for the second wicket. Gyanendra Malla scored 23 runs. Dipendra Singh Bhari added 15 unbeaten runs in 11 balls.
Sompal-Karan duo shined in bowling
Sompal Kami and Karan KC are the two main fast bowlers of the Nepalese team. The pair gave a befitting start to the new ball on Friday. Together, they took 6 wickets and made Kenya’s innings collapse. Captain Rohit also praised both Karan and Sompal.
Sompal gave Kenyan opener Sukhdeep Singh a pleasant start in the first over by cutting and bolting. Then in the ninth over, Sompal bowled Nelson Odiembo for LBW. After Som and Karan made the base, Pawan Sarraf bowled Irfan Karim.
Despite losing 4 wickets for 49 runs, Rakep Patel and Collins Obuya pushed Kenya’s innings forward. Both made a half-century and shared a partnership of 130 runs for the fifth wicket. But Adil Alam broke this partnership and gave Nepal their fifth success in the 42nd over. Adil gets Rakep Patel caught out by Rohit Paudel. Rakep scored the highest 67 runs.
Then Nepal took control of the game. Captain Rohit ran out Collins Obuya in the 45th over. Obuya scored 62 runs. In the same over, Sompal bowled Kenyan captain Shem Goche LBW for a wicket. After that, Kenya lost consecutive wickets. Karan Casey dismissed Emmanuel Bundy and Elijah Otieno.
Sachin Budia, who scored 26 runs, was run out by Dipendra Airi and Arjun. After the match, Sompal said that it was beneficial to run out of players who were playing well. Two runouts were good. They played well. Rohit did a good job. It helped us.
He says that since the Nepali team is young, there is energy in the team now and it will inspire them to perform.
He also said that the Nepali team’s fielding was good. Sompal scored 29 runs with 1 maiden in 10 overs and Karan took 3 wickets with 38 runs in 9.1 overs with 3 maidens. Pawan and Adil assisted in this by taking wickets and Nepal also performed well in fielding.
