Airee’s lone resistance drags Nepal to 133 for 8 against West Indies

MUMBAI: A fighting half-century by Dipendra Singh Airee helped Nepal recover from a top-order collapse to post 133 for 8 against West Indies in their Group C match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium here on Sunday.

Airee struck three sixes and as many fours in a resolute 47-ball 58, while Sompal Kami chipped in with an unbeaten 26 to provide a late surge after Nepal found themselves in deep trouble. Barring Airee, Nepal’s batters struggled on a fresh deck that neither assisted spin nor behaved in a two-paced manner.Had it not been for Airee’s dogged knock and Kami’s late strikes, including three consecutive fours in the 18th over, Nepal would have finished with a far lower total following an insipid display by their specialist batters earlier in the innings.

Unperturbed by the ordinary batting around him, Airee showed sound application and timely aggression, punishing loose deliveries in his hitting arc while running sharply between the wickets.The slide began in the first over itself when Kushal Bhurtel (1) was bowled by Akeal Hosein. Hosein’s arm ball kept angling into the right-hander, who was cramped for room and played down the wrong line.

Nepal skipper Rohit Paudel (5) was dismissed when he missed a leg-side flick off Matthew Forde, with the angled delivery striking him on the pads. Paudel reviewed the on-field decision, but replays showed the ball would have clipped the leg stump.

The poorest shot of the innings, however, came from No. 5 Aarif Sheikh, who guided an outside leg-stump delivery from Jason Holder straight to fine leg,From the other end, Forde consistently tested the Nepal batters outside the off stump but was unfortunate not to find an edge despite his persistence with line and length. He did, however, bowl a wicket-maiden fourth over and later took a fine catch at midwicket to dismiss Aarif Sheikh (2) off Holder, despite having the sun in his eyes.

At 22 for 3 at the end of the sixth over, Nepal recorded the lowest powerplay score of the tournament.

Lokesh Bam (13), Nepal’s hero against England, fell cheaply once again, while Gulsan Jha (11) also failed to make an impact.