Cricket

'Akhir kaar Super 4s ke liye India pahuch gaya' - Fans react as India beat Nepal by 10 wickets in rain hit encounter at Pallekele

Nepal made their way to 232 in 48.2 overs against India. Aasif Sheikh was the top scorer with 58 off 97 balls with eight fours.

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Daniel S
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Team India

Team India (Source: Twitter)

Nepal and India squared off against each other in Pallekele. While Nepal lost their first game to Pakistan by 238 runs, India's game against the Men in Green was a washout. The coin went the way of the Men in Blue and they chose to bowl first. Surprisingly, Nepal got off to a fast start courtesy of Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Shiekh. Bhurtel made a quickfire 38 off 25 balls with three fours and two sixes. Sheikh made 58 off 97 balls studded with eight fours.

For India, it was not a good day on the field as they dropped quite a few catches. Bhurtel was the first wicket to fall as he was caught by Ishan Kishan off Shardul Thakur. Bhim Sarki and skipper Rohit Paudel did not last long as Sharki was castled by Ravindra Jadeja and Paudel was caught by  Rohit Sharma off Ravindra Jadeja. Kushal Malla was Jadeja's third victim. At 132-5, the match felt like it was very much in India's grasp but some very good contributions helped Nepal to get to a competitive total.

Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj picked up three wickets each for India

Gulshan Jha and Dipendra Singh made some handy 30s that had three bounries each.  Sompal Kami also frustrated the Indian bowling attack with his 48 off 56 balls with one four and two sixes. This helped Nepal end up with 230-10 in their 50 overs. The Indian bowlers took quick wickets at the end and Nepal could not touch the 250 barrier. Siraj and Jadeja picked up three wickets each in their respective spells for India.

In the second innings, India were able to get only 2.1 overs of play in as rain came bucketing down. At that point, Rohit Sharma was batting on 4 off 7 balls with one four. Shubman Gill was batting on 12 off 6 balls with three fours. The rain stopped play and the match was delayed. According to the revised conditions play resumed at 10:15 IST and it became a 23-over game. The revised target for India was 145.

Rohit and Gill put all fears to rest as they started to play an array of strokes which put the Nepal bowlers under pressure. The opening combination firing is a great sign for India. But the real challenge for the Men in Blue will be in the Super Fours. Rohit ended on 74  off 59  balls with six fours and five sixes. Gill ended on 67 off  62 balls with eight fours and one six.

Let us take a look at the reactions on Twitter:

 

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