Gulshan Jha was promoted to the No.3 spot in the batting order, and this move proved to be a masterstroke from skipper Rohit Paudel and coach Monty Desai. The 17-year-old played an unbeaten knock of 67* to chase down 118, a target which was made tricky by the UAE’s strong spin-bowling group, the pitch conditions were quite slow and it played in the favour of spinners along with this the added dimension of rain threatening in the capital proved to be another factor playing in the favour of UAE.
UAE resumed their innings on the morning of the reserve day at 106/9, and Lalit Rajbanshi continued where he left off on Monday, taking the final wicket with a left-arm orthodox of his own to finish with 4/14 (7.1). Leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane claimed 2/34 (10) at the other end, moving to a 33-ODI match streak of wicket-taking outings.
The Emiratis opted to keep quicks Zahoor Khan and Junaid Siddique at the sidelines. They turned to their spinners, starting with a 17-year-old of their own in Aayan Khan.
Aayan claimed Aasif Sheikh for just eight after fellow finger spinner Rohan Mustafa removed Kushal Bhurtel for one, and Mustafa followed up by forcing a mistake from Rohit Paudel (one) chopping on to make it 22/3.
Watching two wickets fall at the other end, Jha was watchful early, before pouncing on overpitched deliveries, launching straight and over the top for multiple sixes down the ground. He pounced on Karthik Meiyappan missing his lengths, hitting the leg-spinner for 14 runs in the space of just three balls to swing momentum.
The flurry eased the pressure on the batting side, and any doubt that put a hush over the normally vocal Kathmandu crowd dissipated. UAE turned to fast bowler Zahoor as a final roll of the dice, though runs flowed in Nepal’s fourth wicket partnership, as Bhim Sharki joined Jha in the middle overs.Jha raised his bat for fifty, before launching Aayan for a six down the ground to level the scores, and paddling the next ball behind square on the leg-side for victory. Bhim ended up on 36*, and the pair finished with an unbeaten 96-run partnership.
The top three finishes of Nepal, UAE and Oman at the Premier Cup mean they will also feature in the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in July, where they will take on ‘A’ Teams of five Full Members in the region.
(With inputs from ANI)
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