Nepal Archives

South Africa edge past Nepal in last-ball thriller

KINGSTOWN: Tabraiz Shamsi took a four-wicket haul to lead South Africa to a narrow one-run victory over a spirited Nepal side in a thrilling ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 clash here at Arnos Vale Ground on Friday.

Chasing 116, Nepal needed two off the last ball, however, South Africa held on their nerves and ran out Gulsan Jha to earn the hard-fought win.

Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh gave Nepal a cautious start with a 35-run opening pair in 7.2 balls before Tabraiz Shamsi halted their momentum.

Shamsi bowled Bhurtel, who scored 13 off 21, and Rohit Paudel (0) in three balls in the eighth over.

Anil Shah then scored a 24-ball 27 during the 50-run stand for the third wicket with Sheikh to force Nepal’s comeback. Aiden Markram dismissed Shah with 85 runs on the board in 13.4 overs.

Shamsi once struck twice in an over, removing Dipendra Singh Airee (6) and a settled Aasif Sheikh to close the 18th over at 100-6.

Sheikh top-scored for Nepal with 42 runs from 49 balls with the help of four boundaries and one six.

With 16 required off two overs, Anrich Nortje bowled the penultimate over and called Kushal Malla to further dent Nepal’s pursuit, however, Kompal Sami scored eight runs off the last two balls, including one six.

Ottneil Baartman bowled the last over and gave away six runs to lead his side to a thrilling victory.

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Shamsi returned with the figures of 4-19, while Nortje and Markram picked one wicket each.

Sent into bat first, South Africa lost Quinton de Kock (10) early in the fourth over with 22 runs on the board.

Hendricks was joined by skipper Aiden Markram (15) and together they constructed a cautious 46-run partnership from as many balls before Bhurtel struck to pick his first wicket.

Bhurtel soon dismissed Heinrich Klaasen (3), while Dipendra Singh Airee removed a set Hendricks, who played a cautious knock of 43 runs from 49 balls.

Hendricks’ innings featured five boundaries and one six.

Tristan Stubbs played an unbeaten cameo of 27 runs from 18 balls, laced with two boundaries and one six.

Meanwhile, Bhurtel Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada on the final two balls of the innings to restrict South Africa to 115-7 in 20 overs.

Bhurtel’s figures read 4-19, while Airee claimed three wickets for Nepal.

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T20 World Cup 2024: Nepal win toss, choose to bowl first against South Africa

KINGSTOWN: Nepal have won the toss and opted to field first against South Africa in the 31st match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 here at Arnos Vale Ground on Friday.

PLAYING XI

South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Tabraiz Shamsi, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, 11 Anrich Nortje

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Nepal: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (wk), Anil Sah, Rohit Paudel (c), Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sompal Kami, Gulshan Jha, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Abinash Bohara

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Persistent rain washes out Sri Lanka-Nepal T20 World Cup 2024 clash

LAUDERHILL: The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 clash between Sri Lanka and Nepal has been abandoned due to persistent rain here on Tuesday.

According to the details, it has been raining in Lauderhill, Florida since the morning and continued during the scheduled match timings, resulting in it being abandoned without a ball bowled.

Consequently, both teams earned their first point in the tournament after they lost their previous matches.

Nepal succumbed to a six-wicket defeat against the Netherlands in their first game in the T20 World Cup 2024.

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Nepal bowlers forced the Netherlands to make hard yards with a tight bowling display to chase a modest 107-run total, however, the Dutch batters held on to their nerves to chase the target with just eight balls to spare.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka had a dismal start to their World Cup campaign as they were bowled out for a meagre 77 against South Africa after opting to bat first. South Africa chased the target with 22 balls to spare after losing four wickets.

In their second match, Sri Lanka set Bangladesh to chase 125, which was successfully chased by the latter with an over to spare after a thrilling match.

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Nepal’s ‘Everest Man’ claims record 30th summit

Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa, also known as “Everest Man” reached the peak of the world’s highest mountain for a record 30th time on Wednesday, three decades after his first summit.

A 54-year-old climber, who broke his own record after climbing the 8,849-metre (29,000-foot) peak for the 29th time earlier this month, has previously said that he was “just working” and did not plan on setting records.

“Kami Rita reached the summit this morning. Now he has made a new record with 30 summits of Everest,” Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks, his expedition organiser, told AFP.

Sherpa first stood on the top of Everest in 1994 when working for a commercial expedition.

Since then he has climbed Everest almost every year, guiding clients.

“I am glad for the record, but records are eventually broken,” he told AFP after his 29th climb on May 12. “I am more happy that my climbs help Nepal be recognised in the world.”

Last year, Sherpa climbed Everest twice to reclaim his record after another guide, Pasang Dawa Sherpa, equalled his number of ascents.

He has also conquered other 8,000-metre peaks including the world’s second-highest mountain, K2 in Pakistan.

His success in reaching the top came as the season’s death toll climbed to five.

A Romanian climber died during a bid to scale Lhotse, the fourth-highest mountain, his expedition organiser said.

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“He was found dead in his tent on Camp Three on Monday morning by his guide,” said Mohan Lamsal of Makalu Adventure, naming the climber as Gabriel Viorel Tabara.

Everest and Lhotse share the same route until diverting at 7,200 metres.

“We are making efforts to bring his body down,” he said.

Earlier this week, two Mongolian climbers went missing and were later found dead after reaching Everest’s summit.

Two more climbers, one French and one Nepali, have died this season on Makalu, the world’s fifth-highest peak.

Nepal has issued more than 900 permits for its mountains this year, including 419 for Everest, earning more than $5 million in royalties.

Around 500 climbers and their guides have already reached the summit of Everest after a rope-fixing team reached the peak last month.

This year, China also reopened the Tibetan route to foreigners for the first time since closing it in 2020 because of the pandemic.

Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are warm and winds typically calm.

Last year more than 600 climbers made it to the summit of Everest but it was also the deadliest season on the mountain, with 18 fatalities.

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Nepal announce squad for ICC T20 World Cup 2024

Nepal on Wednesday named their squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2024 with Rohit Paudel as captain and boasting the power-hitting of Dipendra Singh Airee.

The 21-year-old Paudel has been among the runs in an ongoing unofficial T20 series against the West Indies A as he led the team in the opening win with a 54-ball 112.

Meanwhile, Airee recently became the third male batter to hit six sixes in an over in T20Is during the ACC Men’s Premier Cup game against Qatar.

He joined India’s Yuvraj Singh, who made his runs off England’s Stuart Broad in Durban in the 2007 T20 World Cup, and West Indian slugger Kieron Pollard who hammered Sri Lanka’s Akila Dananjaya in Antigua in 2021.

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For the unversed, Dipendra Singh Airee also holds the record for scoring the fastest half-century in the history of T20 cricket in a record-breaking Asian Games match between Nepal and Mongolia.

Nepal, who will be making their second appearance in the T20 World Cup after their debut in 2014, lost the next two matches to trail the five-match series 2-1.

Aarif Sheikh, Bibek Yadav and Aakash Chand miss out on the 15-man World Cup squad.

Nepal will play their World Cup opener against the Netherlands in Dallas on June 4. They will also play group games against South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Nepal squad for T20 World Cup

Rohit Paudel (c), Aasif Sheikh, Anil Kumar Sah, Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Lalit Rajbanshi, Karan KC, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Pratis GC, Sundeep Jora, Abinash Bohara, Sagar Dhakal, Kamal Singh Airee

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Nepal, Oman qualify for ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024

Nepal and Oman on Friday, booked their spots at the T20 World Cup 2024 after winning their respective semi-finals of the the ICC’s Asia region qualifiers.

Oman humbled Bahrain by 10 wickets while Nepal edged spirited UAE by eight wickets after a tricky run chase.

With Nepal and Oman qualifying for the T20 World Cup 2024, scheduled to be co-hosted by West Indies and the United States of America (USA), a total of 18 teams have now sealed their spot in the mega event.

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The final two spots will be confirmed at the Africa qualifiers, which will be concluded later this month.

Hosts West Indies and the USA sealed automatic qualification for the next year’s extravaganza while Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Netherlands, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka booked their spots being the top eight sides in the 2022 edition.

Meanwhile, the two next-highest-ranked teams in the format Afghanistan and Bangladesh sealed their spots.

Ireland and Scotland qualified for the T20 World Cup 2024 from the Europe region qualifiers, while Papua New Guinea made it from the East Asia-Pacific region and Canada from the Americas region.

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The next year’s T20 World Cup will feature a record 20 teams, which will be divided into four groups.

The top two teams from each of the groups will qualify for the Super Eight phase, where the sides will be split into two groups of four.

The top two in each group will then make their way to the semi-finals.

According to a report in July, the next edition of the T20 World Cup will run from June 4 to 30.

Details further suggested that the ICC has shortlisted venues in the USA which include Lauderhill in Florida, Morrisville, Dallas and New York, for tournament matches and warm-ups.

Notably, Florida has already hosted international matches, including the second ODI between West Indies and India.

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