SCO vs NEP | Sandeep Lamichhane’s four-wicket haul headlines Nepal’s thrilling win over Scotland

‌Sandeep Lamichhane came up with a match-winning spell of 4/11 to power Nepal to a two-wicket win, their first win in the T20 Tri-Series, against host Scotland in Titwood in Glasgow on Tuesday. The leg-spinner’s four-over spell, which included a maiden, saw Scotland being skittled out for just 97 runs before the visitors sealed the win in the penultimate ball in a low-scoring thriller.

Opting to bowl first, Nepal was rewarded immediately as Dipendra Singh Airee struck with the fifth ball of the innings to castle opener Mark Watt. In the next over, Karan KC sent back the other opener George Munsey before new batter Liam Naylor was caught short while going for a second run. When Karan returned in the next over to pick up his second wicket, Scotland was in dire straits at 16/4 and soon it became 24/5 the host lost two more wickets. Just as it looked like the host would be skittled out before the 50-run mark, they were bailed out by a 39-run partnership between all-rounder Michael Leask and captain Matthew Cross. After conceding just nine runs in his first two overs, Lamichhane returned for another over and the captain’s call proved right with the leggie pegging Scotland back with a double strike. First, he went through the defence of Cross in the second ball before dismissing the next man Christopher McBride in the same fashion in the next ball. With that double wicket maiden, Scotland had to bury any hopes of going past 100, as he repeated the feat in his last over picking up two more wickets conceding just two runs. Leask stood tall with his run-a-ball 46 as he was the last man to be dismissed in the fourth ball of the 20th over with the target locked at 98 for Nepal. Apart from Lamichhane, Airee and Karan chipped in with two wickets for Nepal.

In return, Nepal had a good start before slipping from 21/0 to 38/3 with opener Kushal Bhurtel losing partners in quick intervals. He added 22 runs with Airee for the fourth wicket but another collapse meant Nepal was reduced to 87/7. They had to fight some tense moments before going past the line in the penultimate ball of the innings with Lamichhane hitting the winning runs for the visitors. Kushal top-scored for Nepal with a 35-ball 30 while Airee, Basir Ahamad and Kiran Thangunna scored vital runs in their thrilling win. Leask had a field day albeit Scotland’s loss as he complemented his batting performance with a spell of 2/21 while medium-pacer Safyan Sharif also picked up two wickets. With two matches done, Nepal and Scotland, along with the third team Netherlands, all have two points from a win and a loss each.