Nisshin, September 25, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Nepal produced a strong all-round performance to stun Afghanistan by five wickets in their Group A opening match of the men’s cricket event at the Korogi Sports Park here on Friday.
Chasing 103 against a second-string Afghanistan side, Nepal reached the target with two wickets to spare, with Rohit Paudel unbeaten on 33 off 32 balls, Sundeep Jora scoring 34 off 35 and captain Dipendra Singh Airee contributing 15 off 18.
Earlier, leg-spinner Kushal Bhurtel and left-arm finger spinner Lalit Rajbanshi shared seven wickets between them to restrict Afghanistan to 102.
Nepal’s chase got off to a difficult start as both openers departed early. Faridoon Dawoodzai dismissed Bhurtel for a duck, while Abdullah Ahmadzai had Aasif Sheikh caught for two.
Kushal Malla was then run out in the seventh over, leaving Nepal at 31/3 after 6.3 overs.
Sundeep and Rohit steadied the innings, rotating the strike and finding boundaries as Nepal gradually moved towards the target. Sundeep struck a four and a six in successive overs before being run out in the 10th over.
Rohit and Dipendra then batted cautiously, picking up singles and doubles to keep the chase on track. With victory within reach, Rohit struck three fours across the 16th and 17th overs.
Dipendra was dismissed in the 18th over with the scores level, but Gulsan Jha hit the winning single to complete Nepal’s five-wicket victory.
Earlier, Rajbanshi returned figures of three wickets for just 13 runs from his four overs, while Bhurtel claimed four wickets as Afghanistan struggled to score freely.
Faisal Shinozada and Najibullah Zadran top-scored for Afghanistan with identical scores of 30, while Nangeyalia Kharoti added 17. However, the team could manage only 102.
Afghanistan have one win and one loss from their two league-stage matches and remain on top of the three-team Group A table on net run rate. Nepal, who have won their opening match, will face winless Japan in their final league game.
Each team plays two matches in the league stage, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the quarterfinals.
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