Nepal stun West Indies in historic win

Nepal registered their first win against a Test playing nation as they defeated the West Indies by 19 runs to take a 1-0 series lead in the three-match T20I series, in Sharjah. After 180 internationals, Nepal have finally defeated a Full Member nation on a historic day for the country. After the Nepalese middle-order took them to a decent score of 148 for 8, they produced a collective bowling performance to restrict the West Indies.

West Indies sent Nepal in to bat and after a sedate start, Akeal Hosein had Kushal Bhurtel stumped cheaply. Fellow opener Aasif Sheikh fell in the fourth over to Jason Holder as Nepal were suddenly 12 for 2. Captain Rohit Paudel and Kushal Malla then revived the innings in a 58-run stand with the former taking a liking to a wayward Ramon Simmonds in a 14-run sixth over. They found a four and a six off Fabian Allen in his two overs as they moved past 50 near the halfway mark of their innings.

The two batters also ran well, taking twos and even the odd three to not leave any runs out there on the field. Malla, who was looking good, launched Obed McCoy down the ground for a six but fell in the next over to legspinner Navian Bidaisee, on debut. Paudel smashed Simmonds for six but the leggie returned to send him back to the pavilion. Gulsan Jha clobbered two sixes in a quick 22 but holed out to long-off to give Bidaisee his third wicket. In a hara-kiri 19th over, Nepal lost three wickets to Holder, undoing all the good work their middle order had done, but two sixes off McCoy still pushed them two runs shy of the 150-mark.

West Indies began with intent, scoring a boundary off the first ball. Karan KC had Kyle Mayers dismissed for five but was taken for 12 in his second over with Ackeem Auguste the aggressor. But the southpaw fell to Nandan Yadav, off a slower ball. Jangoo hit two boundaries to keep the West Indies ahead of the run-rate at the end of the PowerPlay. Skipper Paudel took matters into his own hands with the ball and immediately returned with the wicket of Jewel Andrew. Jangoo departed in the next over as West Indies began to tumble, losing their fourth wicket with just 53 on the board.

West Indies couldn't catch a break as Keacy Carty was run out while Holder fell for just five in the 14th over to add to their woes. West Indies still needed 70 runs in the last five overs with four wickets in hand. Bidaisee made up for his slow start to his innings with a six and a four to keep the batting side in the hunt but was hit-wicket in the next over to make the chase harder.

But, was there a twist in the tale? Skipper Hosein and Allen combined to hit 19 off Sompal Kani's fourth over to bring the equation down to 30 off the last two overs. But Karan scalped the dangerous skipper as Nepal inched closer to victory. With 28 required off the last over, Allen hit two fours off the first three balls but failed to score off the next two before falling on the final ball of the innings as the Nepalese began to celebrate a famous win.

Brief Scores: Nepal 148/8 in 20 overs (Rohit Paudel 38, Kushal Malla 30; Jason Holder 4-20, Navian Bidaisee 3-29) beat West Indies 129/9 in 20 overs (Navian Bidaisee 22, Fabian Allen 19; Kushal Bhurtel 2-17, Lalit Rajbanshi 1-6) by 19 runs