South Africa fought hard to secure a one-run victory over Nepal in their T20 World Cup Group D encounter at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown.
The Nepalese were desperately short at 114-7 after Gulshan Jha was thrown out off the last ball while trying to single off Ottneil Baartman to force a Super Over. They needed eight runs off the final over to chase a small score of 116 for a surprising upset win.
“Very grateful to have got the win, we were not near our best tonight,” relieved Proteas captain Aiden Markram said afterwards.
“Reflecting back on the game over the next few days, there will be a lot of learnings for us.
“First and foremost, the way Nepal bowled it made it really tough for us. They put us under a lot of pressure.”
Leg-break bowler Kushal Bhurtel (4-19) and off-spinner Dipendra Singh Airee (3-21) held the Proteas to 115-7 after they batted first. However, an impressive partnership between Aasif Sheikh (42) and Anil Sah (27), which lasted for 50 runs, brought the Nepalese to within a whisker of a result that would have kept their hopes of qualifying for the Super Eight stage of the tournament alive.
Opening batsman Sheikh dismissed the first threat of Tabraiz Shamsi after he was dropped on one to a caught-and-bowled opportunity by paceman Kagiso Rabada in just the second over of the innings. However, the left-arm wrist-spinner returned for a final over in the 18th over of the innings to claim both Sah and Sheikh in finishing with the excellent figures of 4-19.
After that, Anrich Nortje bowled Kushal Malla in the 19th over to tip the scales in favour of South Africa, who barely held on to win in the face of excruciating anxiety.
Despite going wicketless through the first four overs of South Africa’s innings due to his inability to obtain a visa to enter the country, Sandeep Lamichhane’s mere presence appeared to encourage his teammates when their captain, Rohit Paudel, won a crucial toss and elected to bat first for the Proteas.
While opener Reeza Hendricks managed to give the innings some stability with a top score of 43 off 49 balls (five fours, one six), none of the South African top-order was able to stay on top of the bowling. The team was already guaranteed a spot in the Super Eight phase of the tournament and fully expected to close out the group campaign with a fourth win in as many matches.
Throughout the innings, Nepal’s bowlers were at their best, with the exception of a late burst from Tristan Stubbs (27* off 18 balls), who gave them some pause. Bhurtel then ended the innings by taking the wickets of Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada in consecutive balls.
“I am very proud of the unit, especially the way we bowled and batted,” Nepal captain Paudel said. “I thought we fought very good. If we get more exposure to games like this, we will be on the other side.”
Photo by T20 World Cup Twitter
