Pallekele Sep 4: Unfazed by a bland bowling effort, India hit the top gear through Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, who made polished unbeaten fifties, to post a 10-wicket win over Nepal that also ensured them an Asia Cup Super Four berth here on Monday.
Amidst frequent rain interruptions, Nepal posted an impressive 230 after being asked to bat first.
India, required to score 145 from 23 overs as per DLS calculations, went past the line as Rohit (74 not out off 59 balls) and Gill (67 not out off 62 balls) gave power to their chase.
Hence, India finished their Group A engagements with three points, while Pakistan had already entered the Super Four having logged three points.
Nepal bowed out of the Asia Cup without any points. But they had some special moments in the match both with ball and bat.
Nepal pacers KC Karan and Sompal Kami worked up some good pace to trouble Indian openers Rohit and Gill early on.
Karan pinged Rohit’s pads twice in the first over, with one resulting in Nepal resorting to DRS review, and beat him all ends up once with a lovely outswinger.
But Gill, though got beaten once by Kami outside the off-stump, played three super smooth shots to find the boundary rope, a testament to his inherent timing.
Though he made a bit of a stuttering beginning to his innings, Rohit came into his own after the rain break with a series of fluent shots, including his archetypal pulls.
Once they upshifted, Nepal bowlers did not have the experience to pull things back.
Though the victory might be treated as a solid step, the Indian think-tank would not have liked the way their bowlers performed against Nepal, who were expected to get rolled over. Their day was also not made easier by fielders who were quite shabby on the field.
India dropped three catches inside the first five overs, and there were several misfields and overthrows.
But that should not be held against the gutsy Nepalese batsmen.
Aasif Sheikh (58), Kushal Bhurtel (38) and Kami (48) gave some tight moments to the Indian attack.
Nepal who were bundled out for 104 by Pakistan in their opening match, went off the blocks in a cracking style, reaching 65 for 1 in the first 10 overs.
Bhurtel was the engine room of that initial charge in their first international match against India.
Thakur brought India the first breakthrough when he induced an edge from Bhurtel and Ishan Kishan did not commit any mistake.
Ravindra Jadeja joined the act with three wickets between the 16th and 21st overs to reduce Nepal to 101 for 4.
Sheikh, however, kept his end going with a pragmatic approach.
India might have hoped to put a quick end to Nepal’s innings after Sheikh’s wicket point but that proved futile. Dipendra Airee (29) and Kami played some daring shots and added 50 runs for the seventh wicket to carry them past the 200-run mark. (PTI)
