A composed 34 from opener Sita Rana Magar powered Nepal to a target of 110 and a 3-2 series win in the T20I Bilateral Series against Malaysia.
After winning the toss and bowling first, Nepal found it hard to make early breakthroughs as Winifred Duraisingam hit four boundaries in her knock of 24, which came off 25 balls. Just as it looked like Malaysia were running away with the game, Kabita Joshi trapped both Duraisingam and Mas Elysa in front off successive balls to leave Malaysia at 38 for 2 in the eighth over.
Mahirah Izzati and Wan Julia then stabilized the innings with a partnership of 60 off 64 balls, with Izzati scoring 20 before she was dismissed Ishwori Bist in the 19th over. By the time Julia was run out off the last ball for a well-made 47 off 60, Malaysia had reached a seemingly challenging score of 109 for five.
Chasing 5.5 runs an over for victory, Nepal found themselves in early strife as Izzati bowled the dangerous Indu Barma before running out Samjhana Khadka for a duck to leave the tourists struggling at 34 for 3 in the sixth over. In spite of this, Sita Rana Magar was undeterred. She regularly peppered the off side boundaries and was ably supported by Rubina Chhetry.
Yet, with the series on the line, Malaysia had some fight left in them. Nur Dania Syuhada snared the big wicket of Rana Magar, who was caught by Mas Elysa. This sparked a flurry of wickets, including that of Kabita Joshi who was caught behind off Ainna Hamizah?s bowling.
At 91 for seven, Nepal needed a further 19 runs to win off 21 balls. Apsari Begum held her cool, striking Duraisingam and Hamizah for one boundary a piece in the closing stages of the game to seal the chase with four balls to spare.
Brief Scores:
Nepal 110 for 7 in 19.2 Overs (Sita Rana Magar 34, Chhetry 23, Hamizah 2-23) beat Malaysia 109 for 5 in 20 Overs (Wan Julia 47, Joshi 2-12) by 3 wickets with 0.4 overs to spare. |
