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| Kathmandu, Saturday March 08, 2003 Falgun 24, 2059. |
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8-wkt Alam fires Nepal to
116-run win
Post Report
KATHMANDU, March 7 : A record breaking
eight-wicket haul by Mehaboob Alam guided Nepal to a comfortable 116-run win over Maldives
in the Emerging Nation’s Cricket tournament played at the Tribhuvan University
cricket ground on Friday.
The Biratnagar allrounder broke the bowling
record set by his teammate Dipendra Chaudhary, who picked up 6-46 in the second ACC Trophy
1998 against United Arab Emirates. Alam took eight wickets in his full quota of 10 overs
conceding 23 runs.
Nepal won the toss and elected to bat first.
Thanks to Paresh Lohani’s marathon innings, which saw the opening batsman scoring 80
runs, Nepal compiled moderate 173 runs in 40.2 overs before being bundled out. Alam’s
devastating bowling helped Nepal to wrap up Maldives innings in just 20.1 overs in which
they scored 57 runs.
Nepali toporder batting failed to click in time
as at one stage they were reeling at 50-4 in 14 overs. Lohani rescued the team somehow
playing some watchful knocks. The Maldives fielding also favored Lohani as he was dropped
thrice and also survived a run out chance in the first over of Nepali innings.
"I am not satisfied the way our batsmen
batted," fumed coach Roy Dias who rejected about complacency from Nepali players in
the match. "Actually we are playing a big match after eight months gap so these
things happen in cricket. Hopefully, Manoj (Katuwal) supported well to Lohani for the
eighth wicket which turned the table," Dias added.
Dias also hinted that the best 11 would play
Nepal’s second match of the tournament against Bhutan saying, "This is an
international tournament and each and every match is important for us."
Lohani played a patience knock of 80 run off 103
balls, which featured nine perfectly timed boundaries. Big hitting Mehaboob Alam, Bardan
Chalise, Dipendra Chaudhary, Shakti Gauchan, Paras Luniya, Binod Das and skipper Raju
Khadka departed cheaply. Katuwal, provided a good support to Lohani as they added 42
useful runs for the eighth wicket. Katuwal chipped in 17 runs off 34 featuring two
boundaries before leg-spinner Moosa Kaleem trapped him leg before. In the very next over
Lohani marathon innings also came to an end when right-arm pacer A Faiz clean bowled him.
Rajkumar Pradhan was the last man out as Kaleem took a spectacular catch in his own bowl.
"Our bowlers did their task reasonably well
but the eighth wicket stand of Nepal took the match away from us," said Maldives
coach Faiz Samad to The Kathmandu Post after the match. "There were few dubious
decisions too but Alam bowled superbly today," Samad appreciated man of the match
Mehaboob Alam, who sent three Maldives batsmen to the pavilion leg before the wicket.
Maldives batsmen looked very uncomfortable
against Alam in their run-chase as the left-arm quick Alam claimed the wicket of Ali Azim
and Abdulla Riza in his first over. He also bowled Ahemad Hussain in his next over. Binod
Das, who was little bit expensive after I Nadeem gathered 14 runs off his sixth over
including a sixer and two fours, picked up a wicket of Ahmad N Nazir. Nadeem was the only
Maldives batsman reaching double figure mark as he made 26 off just 28 balls. Shakti
Gauchan packed Maldives innings after he bowled last man M Habeeb in his third over.
Nepal will take on Bhutan in its last league
match at the same ground on Saturday. |
