By Jeniffer Achieng
Nepal cricket team was at loggerheads with Canada in the 32nd ODI of the ongoing ICC cricket World Cup League 2 in Ontario, Canada. This was the second time these two teams were facing one another in the tri-series. In the previous matches Nepal suffered defeat from Canada and Oman at the Maple leaf cricket ground on Wednesday. In the ongoing ICC cricket world cup league, Nepal was ready to retaliate back with the help of Captain Rohit Paudel after they posted just one win and five defeats.
In order for this team to move up the table from the seventh position they were currently placed in with two points on the board, they needed to put in more efforts and go an extra mile because as per the ICC CWC league format only the top four teams in the table will qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2027 qualifiers and the four bottom placed teams will take part in the ICC world cup qualifier play off.
On the other hand, Canada are placed in second position standing with six wins and four defeats. A total of twelve points from 10 matches they have played so far. The Canadian team had a target of 182 runs and managed to reach their goal with loss of only 5 wickets in 42 overs. Navneet Dhaliwal was named player of the match for Canada scoring 87 runs off 113 balls including 8 fours and 4 sixes. Player Pargat Singh made notable contributions scoring 64 runs with 7 fours and 2 sixes from 83 balls. Harsh Thaker and Captain Nicholas Pooran finished the innings with 13 and 11 runs respectively.
Sandeep Lamichhane from team Nepal was picked as the best bowler claiming 2 wickets. Players Karan KC, Lalit Rajbanshi and Gulsan Jha also contributed one wicket each. Nepal won the toss and opted to bat first but stepped out for just 181 runs in 46.1 overs.
Top scorers in Nepal was Sandeep Lamichnae with 49 runs,5 fours and 1 six off 48 balls narrowly missing out on a half century. In the 27.1 over Nepal’s batting line up collapsed to 7 for 87 and Sompal Kamin and Sandeep Lamichhane formed a coalition which added 55 runs for the eighth wicket.
Sompal Kamin was disqualified for 21 runs. Other players who were disqualified included Ahif Sheikh (2), Captain Rohut Poudel (4), Bhim Sarki (4) and Anil shah (1).