Nepal wins a thriller against one of the top opponents in the likes of Canada in WCLC Division 2 in Namibia. Choosing to Bowl first after winning the toss, captain Khadka had no hesitation in choosing to field first in Windhoek in the day of spreading the love.
Gunasekara and Wijeratne gave a great start to Canada with an opening stand of 46 runs. The 28 years old, Srimantha Wijeratne went on to make a great century that made Canada post 195/9 which was more than respectable keeping in mind earlier chases and scores made by Nepal.
For Nepal, it was Basant Regmi who got 3 scalps for 34 runs in his quota of 10 overs. Sandeep Lamichhane chipped in again with 2 wickets while Karan Kc and Sharad chipped in with a wicket each.
Nepalese fan couldn’t get anything worse than losing Malla and Khadka in the successive deliveries leaving Nepal struggle at the score of 22 in the 7th over. Then, Dilip Nath Shut his criticism out of everyone’s head with an important 41 runs of 94 bulls equally supported by Dipendra Singh Airee for a stand of 50 runs which was looking really good. Then, once Dilip was gone Nepal lost another 3 wickets for 8 runs making everyone suffer back home.
Then came a twist with a mature head of Rohit Kumar Poudel and Aarif Sheikh who took the responsibility and scored runs in regular interval. From 81/5 it was slowly 127/5 and moving along but again Rohit, Sompal, and Basanta, as well as Aarif, were gone in quick successions. Nepal lost another 4 wickets for 17 runs leaving themselves in the spot of a danger of exiting from the dream of World Cup Qualifiers. They were 9 down for 144 and target was 51 runs away.
Hence, came the real hero Karan K.C. who smacked Canadian bowlers all over the park with 4 sixes and a massive strike rate of 135.48 His 31 balls 42 runs with an absolute gem of support from Sandeep Lamichhane for 18 balls took Nepal home in the last ball of the match.
It was insane as far as this innings from Karan was delivered out of nowhere. With this win, Nepal books a spot in the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe. It’s not just a win but a victory of hope and support of thousands of Nepalese Youngsters.
