Tri-series Done, Next Stop: ACC Men’s Eastern Region 2020

Nepal summed up their first ODI home series with a couple of wins and a couple of lost at TU Cricket Ground. Nepal defeated the USA twice and lost to Oman in both occasions.

Nepal lost the first match against Oman by 18 runs and won the second against USA by 35 runs. Nepal again lost to Oman by 8 wickets before summing up the series with 8 wickets victory over USA. In the course, several records were made. Kushal Malla’s half century against Oman made him the youngest half-centurion in ODI cricket. Similarly, Oman all-rounder Akib Ilyas made back-to-back two centuries along with at least 3 wickets will ball as well.

Similarly, Sandeep Lamichhane got his career best 6 for 16 followed by debutante Sushan Bhari’s 4 for 5 in 3 overs. Similarly, Nepal packed up USA in mere 35 runs, making it the joint lowest score in ODI cricket. In addition to this, other several records were made.

During this series, debutante Sushan Bhari become the highest wicket taker with 11 wickets from 4 matches and wicket-keeper batsman Binod Bhandari was highest run scorer for Nepal. He made 120 runs, batting in 3 innings with a half-century.

The next tri-series is in April in Namibia against Namibia and Scotland. Before that series, Nepal will play ACC Men’s Eastern Region 2020 at the end of February.  This is the pathway to the ACC Asia Cup 2020 as 16 teams are divided into two regional qualifiers. The top two teams from both regional qualifiers will advance to the final qualifiers in Malaysia in August 2020.

ACC Men’s Eastern Region 2020 will start from 27th February in Thailand and Nepal are strong contenders for the top two spots.