Spinner Sagar Dhakal’s five-wicket haul helped Nepal defeat Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) by six wickets in the 50-over second practice match and level the two-match series 1-1 on Saturday.
Sent into the field first after losing the toss, Nepal bundled out DDCA for 158 runs in 40.5 overs after Dhakal returned 5-1-12-5 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
DDCA were cruising at 75-2 in 17.6 overs but the collapse started after Kushal Bhurtel removed Vaibhav Sharma.
Opener Dhurv Kaushik departed early making just 8 runs.
But Sharma and Salil Malhotra were leading the run-scoring until Bhurtel ended their 67-run stand, trapping Sharma for 26 in the 17.6 overs.
Bhurtel struck again one over later when he had Malhotra (31) caught by Gulsan Jha for another prized wicket.
Dhakal started further demolition, bowling Kanav Gambhir for 21 in the 28.2 overs.
The spinner next took three wickets in the 31st over, removing Tilak Thakur (4), Yash Bardhan Oberio (0) and Anuj Singh (0), and then bowled Ayush Singh in the 32.2 overs as DDCA lost five wickets for just 9 runs.
In reply, openers Arjun Saud (28) and Aasif Sheikh (30) shared a 45-run stand for the first wicket to give Nepal a good start to their innings.
Gyanendra Malla played an unbeaten 48 off 56 balls that included five fours and captain Rohit Paudel added 24 as Nepal chased the target in 28.2 overs.
Nepal are currently on a India tour as part of their preparation for the upcoming Namibia-Nepal-Scotland Tri-series of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2, which is set to take place from December 1 to 8 in Windhoek, Namibia.
Nepal will open their campaign against the hosts on December 2.
Nepal are sixth in the seven-team standings with 17 points from 20 matches. Namibia are fourth with 28 points from 23 matches. Scotland are second with 40 points after playing 28 matches.
Oman lead the standings with 44 points after playing all 36 games.
The top three sides at the end of the League 2 cycle, in which each team will play 36 games, will qualify for the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe next year while the bottom four sides will enter the Qualifier playoffs.
