HK choke Nepal again
Hong Kong once again stood as a major hurdle in Nepal’s quest for the ACC Women’s T-20 title. On Thursday, defending champions Hong Kong—who had beaten Nepal en route to the finals in the previous edition—humbled Nepal by nine wickets in Kuwait to meet main land China in the finals.
Sent into bat after losing the toss, Nepal could only muster up 97 runs in 20 overs losing two wickets. In reply, Hong Kong reached the target in 16.5 overs with nine wickets at their disposal. Nepal made a positive start in the batting, with Neera Rajopadhaya posting 25 runs, who played till 14th overs and Sita Rana’s hitting 18 runs. Janaki Bhatta chipped in with 21 runs while Rashmi Sharma played an unbeaten 20 runs. But they could not carry on the momentum, when they came in to field, conceding 28 runs inside four overs. The early runs proved to be the turning point for both teams. For Hong Kong it was what galvanised them, while for Nepal it was what demotivated them. Rubina Chettri grabbed the only wicket for Nepal.
“The miss-fields in the initial overs cost us dear. Hong Kong had a balanced performance in all areas of the field,” said Nepal coach Arun Aryal. Captain Neri Thapa, however, found some positive from the match. She said the team had performed better than their match against Thailand and could have won had they posted a bit higher target.
For Hong Kong, Nesi Pret, Kony Bangle and Pret Oman were the major run getters, posting 31, 34 and 31 runs respectively. Player-of-the-Match Oman also grabbed two wickets.
In the other semi-finals, China beat Thailand by 53 runs. China, which had posted a target of 110 runs for the loss of six wickets, packed their opponents for 56 runs.
Ngawang Tenji Sherpa
