Nepal Stun Afghanistan To Blow Asian Games Cricket Quarterfinals Qualification Wide Open

Asian Games 2026: Nepal stun Afghanistan in men's cricket© Afghanistan Cricket Board

Nepal produced a stellar all-round performance to stun Afghanistan in their Group A opening match at the Korogi Sports Park on Friday. Rohit Paudel (33* from 32 balls), Sundeep Jora (34 from 35 balls) and captain Dipendra Singh Airee (15 from 18) led the show with the bat to chase down a modest 103 against a second-string Afghanistan side in a five-wicket win. Earlier, leg-spinner Kushal Bhurtel and left-arm finger spinner Lalit Rajbanshi shared the seven Afghanistan wickets and kept a lid on them in a strong bowling display. It was a strong chase from Nepal despite having lost both of their openers, Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh, early. Afghanistan left-arm seamer Faridoon Dawoodzai dismissed Bhurtel for a duck, while right-arm speedster Abdullah Ahmadzai got Aasif caught for two.

Nepal were in more trouble when they lost Kushal Malla, run out in the seventh over, and they were 31/3 in 6.3 overs. But Sundeep and Rohit put up a strong fight.

They kept the scoreboard ticking and found odd boundaries as Afghanistan were under the pump. Sundeep smashed a four and a six in the ninth and the 10th over but was run out in the 10th over as Afghanistan eyed a comeback.

However, Dipendra joined Rohit and the two went treaded with caution to avoid any mishaps. They kept finding singles and doubles to inch closer before Rohit hit three fours in the 16th and 17th over when the finishing line was very near. Dipendra departed in the 18th over when Nepal were level on scores, but with the work almost done, Gulsan Jha took the team over the victory line with a single.

Bhurtel and Rajbanshi had earlier spun Afghanistan into their spin web, with the latter giving just 13 runs from his four overs and taking three wickets too. Bhurtel scaled four as Afghanistan were never let to score freely.

For Afghanistan, Faisal Shinozada and Najibullah Zadran fought with identical scores of 30 each, while Nangeyalia Kharoti made 17 in the end but Afghanistan could post only 102, which was way short in the end.

Afghanistan have one win and one loss in their two matches in the league stage. They don't have a game in hand but are still on top of the three-team Group A table on NRR. Nepal have won their first match and will play the winless Japan in their last league game. Each team plays only two matches in the league stage and the top two from each group will make it to the quarterfinals.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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