Nepal beat Houston Hurricanes despite small total

The Nepalese team registered a back-to-back victory against the Houston Hurricanes with a 27-point victory on Sunday. They emerged victorious despite a meager total on the board.

Electing to bat first at the Prairie View Cricket Complex, Houston, the visiting team managed to post just 123/6 on the board. Aasif Sheikh (1) and Anil Sah (4) were dismissed cheaply before Kushal Bhurtel and Rohit Paudel attempted to lead the innings. Bhurtel scored a slow 23 (off 31 balls) while Paudel top-scored with a run-a-ball 41.

Kushal Malla failed to do anything special, while Gulshan made a slow 14 runs. Sundeep Jora and Sompal Kami remained unbeaten with 12 points each. Imran Khan Jr and Zia Shehzad picked up two wickets each for Houston.

In response, Houston were bowled out for 96 in 18.3 overs in front of a stiff Nepal bowling attack. Zia Shehzad top-scored 35 runs while Lahiru Milantha and Imran Khan Jr contributed 16 runs each while the other batter failed to cross double-digit score.

For Nepal, Karan KC was the choice of a bowler with figures of 3-1-10-3. Sompal Kami picked up two while Rohit Paudel, Abinash Bohara and Sagar Dhakal grabbed a wicket each.

In the first match of the series, Nepal won by just six points in a close contest.

Nepal arrived in the United States after winning the three-match T20 series 2-1 against Windward Volcanoes in St. Vincent. They will now play the official warm-up matches for the 2024 T20 World Cup against Canada on Monday.