Nepal clinch historic win over Windies in first of three T20s

Nepal pulled off a 19-run victory over the West Indies in the first-ever T20 international between the teams when they met at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, UAE, on September 27.

With coach Daren Sammy and the West Indies' Test unit currently preparing for a two-match Test series away to India from October 2-14, as many as six uncapped players were called up for the T20 series against Nepal and four of them debuted in the first match.

Batting first, Nepal made what looked to be a modest score of 148 for eight, with skipper Rohit Paudel top-scoring with a patient 38 from 35 balls. Kushal Malla chipped in with 30 off 21, with Gulsan Jha and Dipendra Singh Airee scoring 22 and 16 respectively.

After the hosts lost openers Kushal Bhurtel (six) and wicket-keeper Aasif Sheikh (three) in the power play to stand-in West Indies skipper Akeal Hosein and the impressive Jason Holder (four for 20), Paudel and Malla rebuilt the innings with a 58-run partnership for the third wicket. Both batsmen then fell in quick succession to leg-spinner Navin Bidaisee (three for 29), one of the West Indies debutants.

The Trinidadian Bidaisee then added the wicket of Jha in the 17th over, before Holder's purple patch in the format continued when he took the scalps of Airee, Sundeep Jora (nine) and Karan Khatri Chhetri (duck) in the penultimate over as Nepal managed 44 runs in their last five overs for the fall of four wickets.

The visitors also lost an early wicket, as Kyle Mayers (five) was run out in only the second over, before debutant Ackeem Auguste (15) was dismissed in the fifth over by Nandan Yadav (one for six) to leave their team on 32 for two. The Windies then had a middle-order collapse as they drastically slid to 94 for seven by the 17th over as Jewel Andrew (five), Amir Jangoo (19), Keacy Carty (16), the in-from Holder (five) and Bidaisee (22) were all sent back to the pavilion.

At that stage, West Indies needed an improbable 55 off the last 21 balls as Hosein (18 off nine) joined Fabian Allen (19 off 14) at the wicket. Both batsman clouted multiple boundaries and kept the score ticking in their brief 27-run partnership, the joint-largest of the chase. However, reeling in Nepal's 149-run target always seemed a cliff too steep to climb and Hosein was dismissed in the penultimate over when he went after Khatri Chhetri, with the hard-hitting Allen being dismissed off the last ball of the match by Airee as the regional team closed on 129 for nine.

Bhurtel led the Nepal attack with two for 17 and took the scalps of Holder and Bidaisee in back-to-back overs.

After coming up short in this clash, Hosein and his charges will aim to rebound in the second T20, which bowls off from 10.30 am on September 29 at the same venue.

Summarised Scores:

NEPAL: 148/8 from 20 overs (Rohit Paudel 38, Kushal Malla 30, Gulsan Jha 22, Dipendra Singh Airee 17; Jason Holder 4/20, Navin Bidaisee 3/29) vs WEST INDIES: 129/9 from 20 overs (N Bidaisee 22, Fabian Allen 19, Amir Jangoo 19; Kushal Bhurtel 2/17). Nepal won by 19 runs.