KANDY: Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill’s unbeaten half-centuries after a combined bowling effort powered India into the Asia Cup 2023 Super 4s with a dominant 10-wicket victory over Nepal on Monday.
India were set to chase a revised target of 145 in 23 overs after the second innings was interrupted by a heavy downpour in the third over.
Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill completely dominated the inexperienced Nepal’s bowling attack and muscled their side to a flawless 10-wicket victory, courtesy of their unbeaten partnership.
Captain Rohit Sharma top-scored for India with a 59-ball 74 which featured six boundaries and five sixes while his partner Shubman Gill scored 67 not out off 62 deliveries, hitting eight boundaries and a six.
The dominant 10-wicket victory lifted India to book their spot in the Asia Cup 2023 Super 4s and joined the hosts Pakistan, who secured their berth after their much-anticipated clash against India was washed out on Saturday.
Notably, no team from Group B could make it to the next round of the tournament yet.
Put into bat first in their must-win Asia Cup 2023 fixture, Nepal could manage to post 230 on the board with Aasif and Kami leading the charge with the bat.
Nepal got off to a flying start to their innings as their opener Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif dominated the Indian bowlers on their way to a brilliant 65-run partnership.
The pair got several lifelines, courtesy of sloppy fielding by the former champions, who dropped three catches in the first five overs.
Aasif and Kami had taken Nepal past the 60-run mark in the 10th over but Shardul Thakur hit back to provide a much-needed breakthrough to his side as he got Bhurtel caught behind.
Bhurtel scored a brisk 38 off 25 deliveries, laced up with three boundaries and two sixes.
Following his dismissal, Nepal began to lose wickets in quick succession and slipped to 101/4 in the 22nd over.
Aasif, who batted cautiously while losing partners at the other end, then put together a brief anchoring knock with Gulshan Jha.
The duo could put together 31 runs for the fifth wicket before Aasif finally perished in the 30th over.
He remained the top-scorer for Nepal in their must-win Asia Cup 2023 game with a 97-ball 58 which featured eight boundaries.
Gulshan Jha soon followed Aasif back to the dugout in the 34th over to leave Nepal reeling at 144/6 in the 32nd over.
He scored 23 in 35 deliveries with the help of three boundaries.
Following the slump, Dipendra Singh Airee and Sompal Kami stitched an astounding partnership for the seventh wicket and added a valuable 50 runs to the total before Hardik Pandya broke the stand by trapping the former in the 42nd over.
Airee scored 29 off 25 deliveries, hitting three boundaries.
Kami then put on a one-sided 34-run partnership with Sandeep Lamichhane before Mohammed Shami got him caught behind to spark a collapse.
Sompal Kami fell just two runs short of his third ODI half-century as he scored 48 off 56 deliveries, laced with a boundary and two sixes.
Nepal could then add two more runs to their total at the cost of their remaining two wickets and managed to post 230 in their must-win Asia Cup 2023 fixture.
Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja led the bowling attack for India with three wickets each while Shardul Thakur, Shami and Pandya made one scalp each.
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