After a string of washouts, there was finally some cricket as Hong Kong beat Nepal in a nail-biting finish to a low-scorer at the fourth and final T20 in Colombo and claim the series.
Sompal Kami strode in at No. 10, having watched eight of his Nepal team-mates toppling over for single-figures, and laced 40 off 31 balls. Besides it being the highest score made by a batsman at that position, he was able to provide some semblance of modesty to a scorecard that had been wallowing at 25 for 8. The eventual score of 72 though would not have scared too many teams.
Having been put in, Nepal lost their top three inside three overs after a double-strike from seamer Tanwir Afzal. Three more wickets in seven balls took care of the middle order by the time the 10th over was completed. Kami added 43 runs with Shakti Gauchan for the ninth wicket, walloped a hat-trick of fours in the 18th over and a couple of sixes in the 19th before being dismissed.
Hong Kong’s chase followed a similar narrative as three of the top six had bagged ducks and the score slumped to 21 for 5. Anas Khan and Aizaz Khan cobbled together 21 runs each and the equation was reduced to 23 needed off the final four overs for victory. Nepal pulled off a couple of late strikes to add to the tension, including Aizaz’s, but the target was overhauled with one ball to spare.
The entire tour was originally scheduled to be played in Dambulla, but the first three matches were washed out. Rain struck down the second one twice – on the day it was scheduled on and on the reserve day as well – and the final match of the series was moved to P Sara Oval.
Nepal
SP Khakurel c Aizaz Khan b Haseeb Amjad 2
NB Budayair c Aizaz Khan b Irfan Ahmed 5
Sagar Pun c †Atkinson b Tanwir Afzal 2
P Khadka b Tanwir Afzal 0
G Malla b Aizaz Khan 5
RP Magar lbw b Aizaz Khan 1
B Bhandari c Waqas Barkat b Nadeem Ahmed 1
B Regmi c †Atkinson b Nadeem Ahmed 3
SP Gauchan not out 5
Sompal Kami b Irfan Ahmed 40
A Bhattarai run out (Anas Khan/†Atkinson) 2
Extras (lb 5, w 1) 6
Total (all out; 20 overs) 72
Fall of wickets 1-9 (Khakurel, 1.6 ov), 2-12 (Sagar Pun, 2.5 ov), 3-12 (Khadka, 2.6 ov), 4-16 (Budayair, 5.5 ov), 5-21 (Magar, 8.1 ov), 6-22 (Malla, 8.3 ov), 7-22 (Bhandari, 9.1 ov), 8-25 (Regmi, 11.5 ov), 9-68 (Sompal Kami, 18.6 ov), 10-72 (Bhattarai, 19.6 ov)
Bowling
Tanwir Afzal 4-1-8-2, Haseeb Amjad 4-1-20-1, Irfan Ahmed 4-0-24-2, Aizaz Khan 4-1-4-2, Nadeem Ahmed 4-1-11-2
Hong Kong
Irfan Ahmed c Bhandari b Bhattarai 8
Waqas Barkat b Gauchan 4
JJ Atkinson st †Khakurel b Gauchan 0
Babar Hayat lbw b Sompal Kami 0
KD Shah run out (†Khakurel) 0
Aizaz Khan c Bhandari b Sagar Pun 21
Anas Khan not out 21
Haseeb Amjad c Bhandari b Sagar Pun 2
Tanwir Afzal st †Khakurel b Khadka 9
Nadeem Ahmed not out 1
Extras (lb 4, w 3) 7
Total (8 wickets; 19.5 overs) 73
Did not batWaqas Khan
Fall of wickets 1-6 (Waqas Barkat, 1.4 ov), 2-6 (Atkinson, 1.6 ov), 3-7 (Babar Hayat, 2.3 ov), 4-12 (Shah, 6.1 ov), 5-21 (Irfan Ahmed, 8.3 ov), 6-45 (Aizaz Khan, 15.1 ov), 7-48 (Haseeb Amjad, 15.5 ov), 8-72 (Tanwir Afzal, 19.2 ov)
Bowling
Sompal Kami 4-0-17-1, SP Gauchan 4-0-10-2, A Bhattarai 3-0-12-1, B Regmi 4-0-16-0, Sagar Pun 4-0-11-2, P Khadka 0.5-0-3-1
MATCH DETAILS
Toss – Hong Kong, who chose to field
Series – Hong Kong won the 5-match series 1-0
T20I debuts – Anas Khan, KD Shah and Waqas Khan (Hong Kong); A Bhattarai and RP Magar (Nepal)
Twenty20 debuts – Anas Khan and Waqas Khan (Hong Kong); RP Magar (Nepal)
Player of the match – Aizaz Khan (Hong Kong)
Umpires – RSA Palliyaguruge and RR Wimalasiri
Match referee – GF Labrooy
Reserve umpire – RD Kottahachchi
