The Takashinga Sports Club in Harare will play host to a World Cup Qualifier match between Nepal and the United States of America. Both teams are eager to secure their first victory of the tournament after suffering defeats in their opening games.
Nepal faced the host country Zimbabwe in their first match and showcased a remarkable performance from their opening batsmen. They were superb to begin with as they established a massive partnership of 171 runs for the first wicket. However, their momentum was halted when Wellington Masakadza dismissed Kushal Bhurtel just one run short of a century, followed by the wicket of Aasif Sheikh. Nepal managed to post a total of 290 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted 50 overs. Zimbabwe's Skipper Craig Ervine's unbeaten 121 runs off 128 balls, along with Sean Williams' unbeaten 102 runs off 70 balls, led their team to a comfortable victory by 8 wickets with 35 balls to spare.
In the United States of America's first match, they faced the two-time World Cup champions West Indies. Despite making early breakthroughs by dismissing Brandon King and Kyle Mayers, the USA fell short in their pursuit of West Indies' target. The other West Indies batters chipped in and this saw them take their team to total of 297 runs.
Kyle Mayers also claimed the wickets of Steven Taylor and Monank Patel for the USA. Gajanand Singh was the standout for USA as he scored his ODI hundred, but it wasn't sufficient for a victory. The United States managed to score 258 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their 50 overs.
Both Nepal and the United States of America will be keen to get off the mark and get their first win of the tournament.
Wicket-keepers: Aasif Sheikh, Monank Patel
Batters: Steven Taylor, Rohit Paudel, Gajanand Singh (C), Kushal Bhurtel
All-rounders: Dipendra Singh Airee, Kushal Malla, Aaron Jones
Bowlers: Saurabh Netravalkar, Sandeep Lamichhane(VC)
Nepal: Rohit Kumar Paudel(C), Aarif Sheikh, K Bhurtel, B Sharki, Dipendra Singh Airee, Kushal Malla, Asif Sheikh(wk), Gulshan Kumar Jha, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Sompal Kami
United States of America: Shayan Jahangir, Aaron Jones, Sushant Modani, Saiteja Mukkamalla, G Singh, SR Taylor, MD Patel(C), NP Kenjige, Jasdeep Singh, SN Netravalkar, K Phillip
The Takashinga Sports Club in Harare has a beautiful batting strip. However, there will be assistance for the pacers early in the first innings and hence, the captain winning the toss will most likely bowl first.
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