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Cricket

Zimbabwe beats Nepal by 8 wickets chasing a strong target of 290

Hosts Zimbabwe made an impression on the first day of the competition by beating Nepal by chasing down 291 runs. Zimbabwe chose to bowl after winning the toss and started by releasing a string of maidens. Aasif Sheikh and Kushal Bhurtel, the openers, quickly bounced back to raise the half-century partnership in 12 overs.

Although Zimbabwe controlled the run pace, the Nepal openers established a strong base. Bhurtel continued to hit boundaries as the openers set together a big 171-run partnership for the first wicket as Sheikh struggled to lift the ante. The next two hitters in the set were both struck out by Wellington Mazakadza in consecutive overs, leaving Bhurtel with a huge loss. Aasif was caught by him a few overs later and was out for 66.

Despite these two defeats, Kushal Malla (41) and Rohit Paudel (31) led Nepal to continue at a steady pace. However, Nepal was unable to surpass 300 due to effective death bowling from Richard Ngrava (4/43) and company. They reached 290 for eight after scoring 79 runs in their final 10 overs.

The Zimbabwe openers got off to a strong start as they chased down 291 runs. Before Joylord Gumbie was ruled out of bounds by Sompal Kami in the eighth over, he and Craig Ervine contributed an additional 45 runs. Wesley Madhevere, the next batter, teamed up with Ervine to keep the Zimbabwean chase going. For the second wicket, they combined to score 82 runs off 92 balls. When Gulsan Jha removed Madhevere for 32 in the 24th over, Nepal responded.

The Chevrons were 131/2 at the midway point, while Ervine was still undefeated at 62.The Nepal bowlers were then attacked by Sean Williams and Ervine, who scored 77 runs between overs 26 and 35. Slowly, the needed rate dropped below six and over, and Zimbabwe took control. In the 38th over, Ervine reached his fourth ODI century.

Williams wouldn’t be satisfied with just a half-century either; Ervine needed 111 balls for his hundred. The only thing standing in the way of his century was Zimbabwe’s lack of runs to chase as he continued to pick up speed as they formalised the chase. However, when five runs were needed to tie the game, he sliced Gulshan Jha to the wide long-off boundary. His hundred was completed in just 70 balls, and the Castle Corner was overjoyed to resume business. Zimbabwe easily cruised to victory in this matchup.

Rohit Paudel, Nepal Team Captain said: “I thought we did not bowl to our expectations, especially in the middle overs. We could have done better but having said that, they batted really well. We thought anything around 280 to 300 would be a good score but when I saw the wicket later, I felt we were 10 to 15 runs short. Maybe 310 to 315 would have been par. I would say to keep our head high and look forward to the next game against USA.”

Craig Ervine,  Zimbabwe Team Captain: “We didn’t start really well, dropped catches cost us but credit to the guys for pulling it back. We thought that 280/290 would be chaseable because the wicket looked very nice. We thought there would be a little bit more movement early on but the wicket played really well today. The conditions were very good, their openers batted well but we didn’t take our early chances. Credit to them, they put us under pressure in the early part of their innings. We were just trying to break down into small chunks during the chase, and trying to concentrate on where the gaps are and what the bowlers are trying to do. I think it’s well played today, rest day tomorrow and a quick turnaround when we play the Netherlands next on Tuesday. I feel pretty ecstatic, we knew it was a decent wicket to bat on so it was about giving ourselves a chance. It’s been really good, leading up to this and scoring some runs. Hopefully, I can continue like this. As a team, we always like to dominate batting second. You look all around the wicket, from the 10 over mark to the 40 over mark, there are five fielders in the ring so there are always boundary options. I thought we were staring down the barrel of 340 but our bowlers did really well to pull things back. I thought 290 was below par.”

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