Nepal stunned the West Indies by winning Monday’s T20 match by a record 90 runs, securing the series with one game whichis still to be played. Nepal faced the two-time world champions on Saturday for the first time and made history by beating them by 19 runs, marking their first-ever win against an ICC full member.
Nepal’s strong batting performance
- Nepal scored 173-6, thanks to career-best 60s from Aasif Sheikh (68 not out off 47 balls) and Sundeep Jora (63 off 39 balls, with five sixes).
- Early wickets by West Indies captain Akeal Hosein reduced Nepal to 43-3, but Sheikh and Jora added 100 runs in just 11 overs.
A dominant bowling display
- Nepal bowled out West Indies for only 83 runs in 17.1 overs.
- Mohammad Aadil Alam took 4-24, his best in T20s.
- Only three West Indies players scored double digits, with Jason Holder top-scoring at 21.
This 83 is the lowest T20 total by a full member team against an associate nation, and Nepal’s 90-run win is the biggest margin by an associate team over a full member in T20s.
West Indies captain Akeal Hosein admitted the team struggled to match international standards. “For us, it’s just about understanding really fast that this is international cricket.. If you try to benchmark yourself here and can’t match the level, then you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you’re really international material,” he said.
Nepal captain Rohit Paudel said the series was an important showcase of Nepalese cricket and expressed hope to complete a clean sweep. “It took a lot to win against a test-playing country. This was a very important series for us to showcase our cricket and talent to the world. The way we’ve been playing the last two or three years, lots of eyes are on us. The motivation is to complete a clean sweep,” he said.