Nepal wins over Gujarat in SMS Friendship Cup opener

Nepal has started its SMS Friendship Cup campaign with a victory defeating Gujarat by eight wickets in the tournament’s opener at Sai Meghpan Sportslife (SMS) Cricket Ground in Vapi, Gujarat, on Sunday. 

Nepal is competing against two Ranji-playing teams – Gujarat and Baroda – in the tournament which is being played in a double round-robin format. Thus, each team will play twice against the other and the top two teams at the end will be qualified to play in the final on April 7.

Heading to India with a positive mindset after clean sweeping a two-match T20 series against Ireland Wolves, Nepal has continued its winning streak after restricting Gujarat to a paltry target and chasing it

Nepal’s captain Rohit Kumar Paudel decided to field first after winning the toss and the skipper utilised the decision to the benefit of the team. Karan KC gave Nepal the first wicket after bowling out Aarya Desai, and then the wickets of Gujarat kept on falling.

Gulshan Jha went on to take a four-wicket haul by sending Umang Rohit Kumar (5 off 5), Smit Patel (10 off 8), Hemang Patel (20 off 23) and Rishi Patel (1 off 2) back to the pavilion. 

Umang scored the most runs for Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy (2023/24). He was ranked 21st among all the teams’ batsmen with 542 runs in 7 innings. However, he could not perform against Nepal on Sunday.

While two batsmen – Rudra Patel and Saral Prajapati – got run out, Karan took two more wickets – Abhishek Desai (11 off 15) and Zala Yuvrajsin (5 off 10) – to bundle out Gujarat at 98 runs in 18.2 overs.