DDCA U-25 elected to field first at the Roshanara Club Ground, Delhi. Nepal put up 148/6 in the allotted 20 overs and restricted DDCA U-25 to 112/9.[break]
Opener Sagar Pun was out for a duck while Subash Khakurel scored 25 runs off 17 balls. Pradeep Airee added 12 runs off 14 balls and Gyanendra Malla hit a run-a-ball 13, but it was skipper Khadka who anchored and accelerated the Nepali innings plundering 80 runs off 58 balls. Khadka´s knock included seven fours and a six. Khadka was run out in the penultimate ball of the innings. Binod Bhandari scored six runs and Sharad Vesawkar remained unbeaten on six runs.
Abhishek Bhatti took three wickets while Rishij Saini and Manoj Chouhan claimed a wicket each for DDCA U-25.
In reply, Nepali bowlers did not let the DDCA U-25 batsmen settle as Sagar Pun claimed four wickets and Jitendra Mukhiya took three. Basant Regmi also picked up two wickets.
Openers Mohit Sharma (19 runs) and Saurabh Pasi (16 runs) put up a 35-run partnership. Milind Kumar added 18 runs off 17 balls in the middle but the rest of the middle order failed to reach double figures. Tail-ender Nitesh Lochabh tried to bring DDCA U-25 back in the game scoring 26 runs off 17 balls but Mukhiya claimed his wicket in the first ball of the 19th over.
Nepal and DDCA U-25 will play their third match on Wednesday at the Roshanara Club Ground.
The Nepali team is scheduled to play seven practice matches during its Delhi tour.
Nepal is touring the Indian capital as part of preparations for the upcoming ICC World T20 Qualifiers to be held in the United Arab Emirates from November 15 to 30. Nepal has been drawn in Group B of the qualifiers along with Afghanistan, Scotland, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Bermuda and Denmark.
The top six teams of the qualifiers will progress to the World T20 2014 to be held in Bangladesh.
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