Mumbai, February 15 Dipendra Singh Airee (58) and Sompal Kami (26 not out) provided a late surge to lift a struggling Nepal to 133 for 8 against the West Indies in their Group C match of the T20 World Cup here on Sunday.
Except for Airee, who hit three sixes and as many fours for his 47-ball 58, the Nepali batsmen struggled on the fresh Wankhede Stadium pitch, which did not favour spin and was not two-paced.
Had it not been for Airee's resilient knock and Kami's late strikes, including three consecutive fours in the 18th over, Nepal would have finished with a much lower score due to the poor performance of their specialist batsmen earlier.
Despite the ordinary performance of the specialist batsmen around him, Airee showed excellent application and aggression, punishing any loose delivery in his hitting zone, while his running between the wickets was sharp.
Nepal had slipped to 46 for 5 in the 11th over, failing to find any momentum on a batting-friendly track, with poor shots and lack of application continuing to haunt them.
The slide began for Nepal as early as the first over when Kushal Bhurtel (1) was dismissed by Akeal Hosein. Hosein's arm ball kept angling into the right-handed batsman, who was cramped for room, playing a completely wrong line.
Nepal captain Rohit Paudel (5) had only himself to blame when he missed connecting with a leg-side flick, with Matthew Forde's ball angled in crashing into his pads.
Paudel reviewed the on-field decision against him, but the replays showed that the ball would have grazed the leg-stump.
However, perhaps the worst shot came from Nepal No. 5 Aarif Sheikh, who guided an outside leg-stump delivery from Jason Holder (4/27) straight to fine-leg, giving the former West Indies captain his first-ball wicket.
From the other end, Forde continued to test Nepal batsmen outside the off-stump, but unfortunately, he could not find an edge despite his persistent line and length.
At 22 for three after the end of the sixth over, Nepal had recorded the lowest powerplay score for this T20 World Cup.
Forde did, however, bowl a wicket-maiden fourth over and took a fine catch at mid-wicket to dismiss Aarif Sheikh (2) off Holder, with the sun in his eyes.
Nepal's hero in the clash against England, Lokesh Bam (13), fell cheaply again, and Gulsan Jha (11) also failed. But a 54-run stand between Airee and Kami gave Nepal much-needed impetus, albeit late in the innings.
