It was a close match on Saturday as South Africa defeated Nepal by a single run in their Twenty20 World Cup match. A run-out on the last ball prevented the squad from being embarrassed just as they were about to lose.
Kingstown (St Vincent):
- Nepal chose to bowl after winning the toss in the game, thinking that the bowling-friendly conditions would work to their advantage. Although Reeza Hendricks seemed reliable right away, wickets continued to tumble from the other side. After scoring only 10 runs, Quinton de Kock left the game, but Reeza (43), Aiden Markram, and others came together to score 46 runs for the second wicket. After Markram was removed from the game, the scoreboard read 68/2, but South Africa never recovered and concluded the innings with 115/7 thanks to a 27-run performance by Tristian Stubbs in the lower order. Dipendra Singh Airee claimed three wickets, while Kushal Bhurtel claimed four.
- The top run scorer for Nepal was Aasif Sheikh (42) who was chasing the mark. With Aasif well-established at the crease, the side needed to score eighteen runs in the last three overs. But Tabraiz Shamsi arrived with a game-changing over, claiming two wickets, including Aasif’s highly-valued scalp, while only giving up two runs. From the remaining two overs, Nepal now needed to score sixteen runs. In the last over, Anrich Nortje also claimed a wicket, but Sompal Kami’s maximum kept Nepal in the chase.
- Gulshan Jha scored a four when eight runs were required off of only four balls, and with two runs off two balls, the batting side was soon on their way to an easy chase. But Heinrich Klaasen’s underarm toss and a misplay on the last ball kept Nepal two runs short of the goal. The best bowler was Tabraiz Shamsi, who claimed four wickets.
Source:
etvbharat
