Cricket is a game of margins. Nepal's Gulsan Jha was just one inch away from the crease when Heinrich Klaasen's under-armed throw hit the timber while trying to steal a single on the last delivery of the match with two runs needed on the final delivery. (More Sports News)
Nepal lost the match against South Africa by one run. The Aiden Markram-led Proteas side managed to survive a major upset against Nepal in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024 at Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown, St Vincent on Saturday.
The stage was set for Nepal's historic win in a World Cup game, but things got messy in the end. Nepal were once 85/3 after 13.4 overs while chasing a modest target of 116 runs.
South African bowlers bowled in the right areas and Nepal batters played a lot of dot balls in between. The match was still on their side when 18 runs were needed off 18 balls and Tabraiz Shamsi came to bowl the 18th over. He got the wickets of set batters Dipendra Singh Airee and Aasif Sheikh and conceded just two runs.
Anrich Nortje delivered four consecutive dot balls including a wicket of Kushal Malla on the second delivery. But Sompal Kami smashed a six on the fifth delivery and took a double to make things interesting.
Nepal now needed eight runs in the last over and pacer Ottneil Baartman came to the rescue. He delivered two consecutive dot balls to Gulsan Jha but he hit a four on the third delivery to put Nepal forward again. With four needed off three balls, he took a double in the covers region.
Now Nepal needed two runs off two balls and Jha missed the ball that went straight to keeper Quinton de Kock's gloves. No run. The last delivery was the same but Jha ran to complete the run. De Kock's throw was not accurate.
He missed the bowler but Klaasen, who was at the short cover, grabbed the ball and hit the wickets when Jha stopped in the middle of the pitch. But when he saw the ball in Klaasen's hands, he started to run again but the ball won the race and Nepal lost the match by one run.
Earlier, Nepal invited South Africa to bat first after winning the toss on a tricky pitch and restricted them to just 115/7 after 20 overs. Kushal Bhurtel took four wickets whereas Dipendra Singh Airee took the other three wickets. Spinners got a lot of assistance from the surface as South African batters kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Reeza Hendricks made a promising 43 off 49 balls. Tristan Stubbs' unbeaten 28 off 16 balls helped Proteas set a 116-run target for Nepal. Recently added to the squad, Sandeep Lamichhane also bowled well and conceded just 18 runs in his four-over spell.
