A composed unbeaten 30 from Sanu Rajbanshi helped Nepal defeat Bhutan by four wickets on the third day of ICC Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Bhutan skipper Ngawang Choden struck a pair of early boundaries to propel Bhutan to 20 for no loss at the end of four overs.
However, the introduction of Manisha Kumari Upadhayay proved to be the turning point. The Nepalese bowler conceded a mere three runs in a four-over spell where she bowled 21 dot balls and collected the wickets of Choden and the Bhutan skipper's opening partner Sonam.
Left-arm spinner Kritika Marasini and seamer Anu Kadayat chipped in with two wickets apiece as the boundaries dried up for Bhutan. To their credit, Bhutan reached their highest total of the tournament, eventually posting 66/9 against their more fancied opponents.
In the first over of Nepal's chase, opener Sneha Mahar was caught by Sangay Zangmo off the bowling of Anjuli Ghalley with just one run on the board.
Sana Praveen then hit back with a pair of boundaries before Kiran Kunwar was again caught off Zangmo, this time off the bowling of Sonam. Sangay Wangmo was then introduced into the attack, snaring three wickets on either side of Ashma Pulami Magar being run out by Ghalley. At 61/6 and two days after being bowled out for 8 by the UAE, Nepal still required another six runs for victory.
However, to the relief of Nepal's dugout, Rajbanshi struck the last ball of Wangmo's spell for four to level the scores. Alisha Kumari Yadav then took a single off the first ball of the 15th over to seal the win for Nepal.
"I gave my best for the team, not so much for myself. Everyone worked hard to be here, so today I said we must win at any cost and we did," she said in a statement.
( With inputs from ANI )
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