All-round Khadka stars in Nepal's 19-run victory

Leading from the front, Paras Khadka starred with both bat and ball to guide Nepal to a 19-run upset win over Netherlands in the ICC World Cricket League Championship encounter in Amstelveen on Monday (August 15).


The captain hammered 84 at brisk pace to help Nepal recover from early blows and post a respectable score of 217 from their allotted 50 overs, before taking two of Netherlands' top-order wickets to derail their chase.

Put in to bat first, Nepal were reeling at 65 for 3 from 20 overs before Khadka joined hands with Sagar Pun (45) to bail his team out of trouble. The duo stitched a valuable 118-run stand for the fourth wicket to propel their team close to the 200-run mark before falling in quick succession.

Khadka, who hit seven boundaries and a six during his 94-ball stay in the middle, fell to Ahsan Malik in the 44th over. Pun, who fell five short of his half-century, departed three overs later as Michael Rippon picked up four in quick succession to restrict Nepal to a manageable score of 217.

Khadka, a medium-pacer, then returned to give his team an ideal start as he got rid of opener Stephan Myburgh in their fourth over. Four overs later, the Nepal captain sent back Netherlands' wicketkepeer Wesley Barresi for 6 to reduce the opposition to 21 for 3 in under 10 overs.

Despite the early losses, Netherlands recovered well to be comfortably placed at 103 for 3 in their chase of 218 but fell short after a lower-order collapse. Roelof van der Merwe came to their rescue with a 61-ball 56 while Tim Gruijters chipped in with 44 off 60 deliveries.

Van der Merwe's dismissal triggered a dramatic collapse. Max O'Dowd (35), his partner in the 82-run fourth-wicket stand, and Pieter Seelaar (1) fell in successive overs. Timm van der Gugten (36), along with Gruijters kept them in the hunt with another half-century stand but Nepal bowlers made a stunning comeback - picking up the remaining four wickets in just eight deliveries, to hand Netherlands a 19-run defeat.

The loss, however, did not affect the top-placed Netherlands in the points table while Nepal now occupy sixth spot with six points from their eight concluded games.

Brief scores: Nepal 217 for 9 from 50 overs (Paras Khadka 84, Sagar Pun 45; Micheal Rippon 4-35) beat Netherlands 198 all out in 48.3 overs (Van der Merwe 56, Gruijters 44, Khadka 2-19) by 19 runs.