KATHMANDU, MAY 21
Nepal national women’s cricket team recorded their second straight victory over Uganda in the Women’s T20I Series here at the TU Stadium today.
After facing defeats in the first three matches to lose the five-match series, the home team bounced back to win the last two games to reduce the margin to 3-2. Nepal had registered 15-run victory in the fourth match yesterday.
Put into bat first, the hosts posted 123-6 in their allotted 20 overs before restricting the tourists for 90-6. Player-ofthe-match Jyoti Pandey came close to creating history of first T20I half century on home soil for the second time in the series but she fell one run short today.
Pandey, who was batting along with Kabita Joshi, ran for a quick single but she failed to complete and was run out for 49. She was dismissed for 47 runs in the third match. No Nepali woman cricketer has scored T20I half century on home soil. Three players, skipper Rubina Chhetry, Indu Barma and Sita Rana Magar, have scored 50 runs in T20Is, all against Qatar.
Nepal made a bright start with Pandey and Sita Rana Magar putting up 47 runs in 8.3 overs before the latter was dismissed for 24-ball 17 that included three boundaries.
Pandey and Indu Barma (eight) added 35 runs for the second wicket. Nepal lost Pandey, skipper Chhetry (naught) and Dolly Bhatta (naught) in the space of seven runs before Kabita Joshi and Apsari Begam added 20 runs off the last 13 balls.
Pandey top scored for home team with 49 off 61 balls with the help of three boundaries, while Joshi remained unbeaten on 18 off 15 balls that included two fours and a six. Begam struck two boundaries in her five-ball 11. Concy Aweko and Phiona took one wicket each for Uganda and they affected four run outs.
In reply, Rita Musamali top scored for Uganda with 26 off 38 balls, while opener Kevin Awino was the next best with 15. Shakirah Sadick (13 not out) and Janet Mbabazi (10) were the other batters who scored in double figures.
Sita Rana Magar (2-15) and Indu Barma (2-12) shared four wickets between them, while Asmina Karmacharya and Hiranmayee Roy grabbed one each. Janet Mbabazi, who scored 103 runs and took five wickets in the series, was named player-of-the-series.
A version of this article appears in the print on May 22, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.