Monank’s bravery century Nepal surpasses USA. Monank Patel career-defining century could not stop America from losing to Nepal by five wickets. Weird defensive tactics with the bat, some toothless bowling in the middle overs, USA cost the game.
The Consecutive wickets for stroke-play :-
Chasing 231 for consecutive wickets for stroke-play, opener Kushal Bhurtel’s entertaining 84 off 93 balls and 19-year-old Rohit Paudel’s unbeaten 62* off 84 balls kept Nepal with an over to spare.
Batting first after winning the toss, America lost their explosive opener Steven Taylor in the fourth over. After this Patel came in the middle with Sushant Modani. Monank was going in the ninth over with a sustained boundary from Karan Casey – a majestic on-drive and a controlled lead behind the ‘keeper to third man boundary.
Sandeep Lamichhane dismissed Modani with a googly in his first over and bowled out USA for 47 for 2. A moment it looked like the leg-spinner might repeat his heroics from last year.
The United States batsmen scored 6 for 16. Monak Patel himself reached the crease in ODIs against Nepal last year with scores of four and four; A running wicket for Lamichhane’s googly on both occasions. However, Monank dismissed Lamichhane for a boundary off his third ball.
The 49 runs partnership for the third wicket :-
Monank and Nisarga Patel put on 49 runs for the third wicket. At that point, left-arm spinner Kushal Malla cleaned up Nisarga for 21, with the batsman hitting an inner edge at his stumps. The United States sent left-arm spinner Nostush Kenzig, who scored the highest score of 14* in 23 innings in List A games.
Nisarga used 39 balls for his 21 and Kenjige used 26 balls for his 13 before Kenjige ran himself out Malhotra could not follow up on his heroism with the bat of the previous ODI and was dismissed at long-off against Malla for 11.
18-year-old debutant Sanjay Krishnamurthy added 25 crucial runs with Monk Patel before his 19-run knock was at 13.
Monank finally scored an emotionally charged maiden ODI century off 113 balls. Very desperate for the United States, he fell on the next ball and slipped to 201 for 8 in the 47th over.
Nepal’s spinners :- Lamichhane, Malla and Sushan Bhari – kept the USA batsmen on a tight leash and finished with combined figures of 5 for 111 in 30 overs.
Nepal openers Bhurtel and Asif Sheikh was conscious about the new ball. Soon, Bhurtel decided to take precautions against the winds. He goes down for wicket to Saurabh Netravalkar and crunches sweetly over the long-on fence, making his posture noisy.
Bhurtel and Sheikh never looked back, stealing 13 runs from young Paradkar in the eighth over. The pair put Nepal on track to chase down their target of 231, adding 66 in 14 overs, as Kenzige overtook Sheikh, the batsman attempted a broadcaster drive.
Nepal captain Gyanendra Malla was hit for some fours. but was pinned in front while trying to play across the line. Bhurtel played with the United States spinners, looking for singles, the fence well on two occasions against Kenzig and Taylor.
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The Difficult innings of 14 runs in 45 balls :-
Rohit played a tough knock of 14 off 45 balls, breaking the ban with a brutal swat at long off Nisarga. The United States failed to find success as Poudel and Binod Bhandari decided to deepen the game. 32 runs were needed from 30 balls.
Poudel and Bhandari turned the game in favor of Nepal. The pair went after Gore and Kenzig and scored a total of 23 runs in the 46th and 47th overs. The winning run off the last ball of the final over as Nepal won their third ODI against the United States in as many matches.
Nepal will play Oman on 14 September while USA will return for their competition against Oman on 16 September.
Brief team scores:- USA 230 in 50 overs (Monank Patel 100; Bikram Sob 2-33) lost to Nepal 231/5 in 49 overs (Kushal Bhurtel 84; Nisarga Patel 2-33).
