Kaleemullah bowls Oman to victory over Nepal

Sports Saturday 10/February/2018 16:44 PM
By: Times News Service
Kaleemullah bowls Oman to victory over Nepal

Muscat: Despite losing their opening game to Canada, Oman’s Red Brigade staged a remarkable recovery to hand Nepal a six-wicket drubbing in an ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 2 at Windhoek in Namibia on Friday.
Duleep Mendis-coached Oman take on hosts Namibia in Sunday’s key clash.
Determined to overcome their Thursday’s setback against Canada, Oman came back hard on Nepal, dismissing the Himalayan state for a paltry 138 in 46 overs. Kaleemullah led the bowling honours, taking four wickets for 28 runs in his 10-over spell. Bilal Khan claimed two wickets while Jay Odedara, Ahmed Fayaz Butt and Khawar Ali bagged one apiece.
Many Nepali batsmen made a start but none of them managed to convert it into something substantial for the team. S. Vesawkar (22 off 39) and D.S. Airee (20 off 32) were the only notable scorers.
Oman lost opener Swapnil Khadye early but Jatinder Singh and Aaqib Ilyas batted solidly to see off the new ball before Singh fell for 24 off 40. Aaqib and Vaibhav Wategaonkar forged a 46-run fourth-wicket partnership to take Oman closer to victory before Aaqib departed for 46 off 53. Khawar failed to contribute much to the score as he was bowled for 11 off 16. Vaibhav and captain Sultan Ahmed made sure there was no further drama, putting on 42 for the fifth wicket to fetch Oman a rather comfortable win. Sandeep Lamichhane took two wickets for Nepal.
On Thursday, Oman were bundled out for 106 in 27.4 overs. Only Aaqib Ilyas (46 off 32) and Zeeshan Maqsood (22 off 43) made notable contributions with the bat. N. Dutta claimed three wickets for Canada.
Canada then raced to the target in just 15.4 overs, scoring 108 for two thanks to N.R. Kumar’s unbeaten 53 off 41 and R. Gunasekara’s 46 off 34. Bilal Khan and Zeeshan Maqsood picked a wicket each for Oman.
Brief scores: Nepal 138 all out in 46 overs (S. Vesawkar 22, D.S. Airee 20; Kaleemullah 4/28, Bilal Khan 2/13) lost to Oman 139 for 4 in 35.1 overs (Aaqib Ilyas 46, Vaibhav Wategaonkar 37 n.o., S. Lamichhane 2/29).
Brief scores: Oman 106 all out in 27.4 overs (Aaqib Ilyas 46, Zeeshan Maqsood 22; N. Dutta 3/11, S. Dhindsa 2/19) lost to Canada 108 for 2 in 15.4 overs (N.R. Kumar 53 n.o., R. Gunasekara 46).