Malaysia go down swinging as Nepal march on to Tri-Nations final

Hosts Nepal rounded off their group stage campaign in emphatic style with a comfortable win over underdogs Malaysia in their final game, a 68-run victory ensuring they will carry plenty of momentum into the Tri-Nations final against the Netherlands on Saturday.

Nepal's top order had laid an excellent platform after being sent in to bat, reaching 147-3 by the end of the 15th over. A barnstorming 45 off 13 balls from Karan KC then lifted them to their second highest ever T20I score, their total of 217 for 7 only topped by the 236 they racked up against neighbouring Bhutan on the same ground at the 2019 South Asian Games. Malaysia had a creditable crack at the target, but Sompal Kami and debutant Kumal Singh Airee would strangle the chase, taking three wickets apiece and conceding just 36 runs between them as Malaysia bowed out bravely but 68 runs short.

Nepal's innings began in now-typically brisk fashion as Aasif Sheikh and Kushal Bhurtel added 33 in the first four overs, but on the first ball of the fifth Bhurtel would be dismissed for under fifty for the first time in his brief T20I career, chasing a quicker ball angled across him by left armer Muhammad Wafiq and edging it to first slip. Skipper Gyanendra Malla joined Sheikh in the middle and the runs would continue to flow freely, each passing 40 in quick time before Anwar Rahman removed them both in the 12th over. Malla holing out to Wafiq at deep mid-wicket and Sheikh playing around a straight one to be pinned LBW.

Dipendra Singh Airee raced to 33 off just 15 balls before another double strike in the 16th saw him and Binod Bhandari back to the pavilion. Bhandari was the first to go, pulling left arm spinner Fitri Sham into the hands of Sharvin Muniandy tracking around the rope from long on to hold a fine running catch. Airee fell two balls later, looking to slash to the on side only to pop a looping edge to short backward point. There would be no respite for Malaysia however, as Karan KC came out swinging. Karan hit seven sixes from his first eleven balls as he raced to 44, just one hit away from equalling Yuvraj Singh's world record for the T20I fastest fifty.

It was not to be in the end, the crucial 12th ball from Wafiq a wide yorker that Karan could only lash away to the sweeper, and in the final over Syed Aziz would put a stop to the fun, another full wide ball miscued high behind point and spectacularly caught by Rahman in the deep as Karan fell for 45 off 13. By then Nepal were already well north of 200 and the game looked realistically well beyond Malaysia.

As Malaysia set out in reply Kami would strike in each of his first two overs to remove all reasonable doubt, first pinning Aziz in front for four before eliciting a top edge from Arudin to Karan at mid off in the third over, a wicket maiden. Malaysia did not roll over, skipper Ahmed Faiz striking a defiant 33 off 21 before falling to Sushan Bhari in the eighth, Bhurtel making up for a previous drop off KS Airee by holding on to an excellent running grab at long on, but by then the asking rate was already above two runs per ball. Airee would find his debut wicket in his next over, pinning Muniany in front on the second ball of the ninth over, and struck again another four balls later as Virandeep Singh picked out Sheikh in the deep.

Aminuddin Ramly led a valiant counter-attack, smashing 5 sixes in his 18-ball 41 before top edging one to backward square off Lamichhane as the asking rate kept climbing. Lamichanne would profit from the pressure to claim two more wickets in the 16th over to take his tournament tally into double figures, including that of the last recognised Malaysian bat in Fitri Sham. Kami would return to claim his third scalp in the 18th, the Malaysian tail still swinging if not wagging, and Airee would finish things off with five balls remaining, Wafiq slogging out to long on looking for a second six, as Malaysia were bowled out for 148.

A more than comfortable win for the hosts in the end, who have a rest day to enjoy before meeting the Dutch in the final on Saturday, while Malaysia will have to fly home without a consolation win.

Nonetheless Ahmed Noor's side will have plenty of positives to take from the series. Coming into the tour as rank outsiders they looked consistently competitive. They didn't find the upset they were hoping for but twice came close against the Dutch, and had the rain fallen more in their favour they might have taken more than one point from their penultimate match. Forcing a tie against the current T20 World Cup Qualifier champions is no mean achievement for the 32nd ranked side in the world, who have earned plenty of plaudits and fans on the trip.