Nepal beat India in a thriller to take the lead in the Women’s T20 Bilateral Series for the Blind

• Binita Pun plays a match winning century in Nepal’s victory

Khel Today Bureau 

Kathmandu: A 186 run opening wicket stand between Binita Pun and Mankeshi Chaudhary helped Nepal overcome India by 9 wickets in a thriller in the third match of the Women’s T20 Bilateral Series for the Blind being played here at the Mulpani Cricket Ground. Nepal scored the winning run on the last ball of their innings providing a spectacle of a match by chasing the huge target set by India. Nepal has taken a 2-1 lead in the five match series with this win. 

Nepal Captain Bhagwati Bhattari won the toss and sent India to bat first. The Indian batters did not have a good start as they lost four wickets within seven overs. Basanti Hansda (23), Phula Saren (10), Ravani (4) and U. Varsha (4) were the batters to be dismissed. The innings was then given momentum by Captain Sushma Patel and Vice-Captain Ganga who stitched together a 78 run partnership for the fifth wicket before Ganga was dismissed for 39 of 28 balls in the 14th over. Sushma was joined by Simu Das and both batters scored freely propelling India’s score past 200. Sushma completed her half century and remained unbeaten on 63 of 51 balls with the help of five boundaries. Simu scored a quick-fire 46 of just 18 balls and remained unbeaten. Eventually India finished the innings on an impressive 213/5 in their 20 overs. Nisha Choudhary took a wicket for Nepal. 

Chasing a huge target, Nepal openers Binita Pun and Mankeshi Chaudhary exhibited class in their innings. They were finding the boundaries and were scoring runs to keep the match at an arm’s length. The Indian bowlers could not find any breakthrough until the penultimate over to dismiss Mankeshi. She scored 65 of 56 balls with the help of three boundaries. On the other hand, Binita smashed 19 boundaries in her brilliant unbeaten knock of 126 of just 67 balls and saw that her team crossed the target on the last ball of the innings. She was adjudged the Player of the Match for her century.

The next match of the series will be played tomorrow at the same venue and a victory for India will see the series drawn level.

Brief Scores

INDIA – 213/5 IN 20 Overs (Sushma Patel – 63 no, Simu Das – 46 no, H. Gangavva – 39, Basanti Hansda – 23; Nisha Chaudhary – 1/26) lost to NEPAL – 217/1 in 20 Overs (Binita Pun – 126 no, Mankeshi Chaudhary – 65).