Glasgow, June 18 (HS): After facing defeat against the Netherlands in a historic match that went to three super overs, Nepal made a strong comeback and defeated Scotland by two wickets in a low-scoring thriller on Tuesday. With this victory, Nepal registered its first win in the triangular series and dealt the first blow to Scotland. Scotland won the toss and batted first, managing only 97 runs in 19.4 overs, which is their second-lowest score in T20 international history at home. Nepal’s spinner Sandeep Lamichhane bowled excellently, taking 4 wickets for just 11 runs in 4 overs, claiming four of the last five wickets of Scotland’s innings. Fast bowler Karan KC (2/20) and Dipendra Singh Airee (1/12) also made significant contributions. Only Michael Leask (46 runs, 46 balls) and captain Matthew Cross reached double digits for Scotland.

In response, Nepal had a rocky start as well. After losing two wickets for 24 runs, captain Rohit Paudel was dismissed for 7 runs, bringing the score to 38/3. However, Kushal Bhurtel (30 runs, 35 balls) stabilized the innings for a while. Wickets kept falling in the middle order, and when Rupesh Singh was out for 4 runs, Nepal needed 10 runs from 12 balls. In the end, they needed 4 runs from 6 balls with three wickets remaining. Kiran Thagunna leveled the score with three singles but was dismissed for 10 runs. Then, on the fifth ball of the final over, Sandeep Lamichhane hit the winning run, concluding the match.

Scorecard: Nepal – 98/8 (Kushal Bhurtel 30, Michael Leask 2/21, Safyaan Sharif 2/13) Scotland – 97 All Out (Leask 46, Lamichhane 4/11, Karan KC 2/20) Result: Nepal won the match by 2 wickets.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar