India cruised into the Super Four stage of the Asia Cup by beating Nepal in a rain-interrupted game on Monday. Chasin a revised target of 147 in 23 overs, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill batted aggressively and just ripped apart the Nepal bowlers to clinch a dominant 10-wicket win. India’s skipper Rohit received the Player of the Match award for his brilliant knock of unbeaten 74. Gill supported him well with a classic knock of unbeaten 67.
After being put into bat first, Nepal openers Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh gave their side a good start by adding 65 runs in 9 overs. Shardul Thakur drew the first blood by dismissing Bhurtel for 38. Ravindra Jadeja then ran through the Nepal top-order batting and took three wickets in quick succession. Sheikh, who batted well right from the start, departed after scoring 58.
While Gulsan Jha chipped in with 23 Dipendra Singh Airee played a handy knock of 29. Indian bowlers thought that they can bowl out Nepal inside 200 runs but Sompal Kami played a crucial knock of 48 towards the end and helped his side to reach 230 in 48.2 overs.
For India, Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj starred with three-wicket haul. Thakur, Mohammed Shami, and Hardik Pandya picked up one each. Team India’s squad for the ODI World Cup us expected to be announced today. Apart from that, Indian fans and cricketing world is eagerly waiting for the next clash between India and Pakistan on September 10, Sunday.
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