Nepal defeated Scotland by 3 wickets under ICC World Cup League-2.
Nepal completed the target of 275 runs given by Scotland in 47 overs with the loss of 7 wickets at the TU Ground in Kirtipur on Friday.
Dipendra Singh Airee and Kushal Malla scored half centuries in Nepal's victory.
Kushal contributed 81 runs. He hit 9 fours and 4 sixes off 67 balls. Kushal scored his second fifty in ODI. Earlier, he scored a half-century against America in the League-2 match.
Dipendra Singh Airee added 85 runs not out. He hit 8 fours and 1 six off 116 balls.
Kushal and Dipendra shared a hundred run partnership for the sixth wicket. This partnership became the basis of Nepal's victory.
Sompal Kami, who hit the winning four for Nepal, added 24 runs not out. He hit 3 fours in 32 balls.
Nepal lost three wickets in five overs when opener Kushal Bhurtel scored 16 runs in the third over, Gyanendra Malla scored 4 runs in the same over and Asif Sheikh scored 9 runs in the fifth over. All three were caught out by Scotland's Chris Sole. Although he cost 23 runs in the first over, he bowled brilliantly after that.
Similarly, Nepal's captain Rohit Paudel was dismissed after scoring 6 runs and Sandeep jora after scoring 5 runs. Both were dismissed by Scotland's Mark Watt. Gulshan Jha scored 17 runs off 28 balls.
In bowling, Chris Soule and Mark Watt of Scotland took 3 wickets each.
Before that, Nepal, who had won the toss, chose to field, and Scotland, who batted first, added 274 runs for 9 wickets in 50 overs.
Michael Lesk scored a century for Scotland. He scored his first ODI century and scored 107 not out in 85 balls.
Scotland's opener Christopher McBride scored 22 runs and Richie Berrington scored 19 runs. Both were caught out by Kushal Malla.
Tomas McIntosh was dismissed for 19 runs, Matthew Cross for 2 runs and Brendon McCullum for 22 runs. All three were dismissed by Sandeep Lamichhane.
Kushal Bhurtel was caught by wicketkeeper Asif Sheikh while playing Chris Graves for 16 runs. Similarly, Jack Jervis was bowled by Dipendra Singh Airey for 26 runs. Mark Watt was run out for 20 runs.
Nepal's Sandeep Lamichhane took three wickets in bowling. He conceded 27 runs in 10 overs. Kushal Malla took two wickets while Sompal Kami, Dipendra Singh Airee and Kushal Bhurtel took one wicket each.
Earlier in the series, both the teams had won the first game. Both defeated Namibia.
In the series, Nepal will face Namibia in their third match tomorrow and Scotland in the last match on Tuesday.
Scotland has become the champion in League-2. Scotland, the top team of League-2, has collected 48 points from 34 games. Second-placed Oman has 44 points from all 36 matches played. Third-placed Namibia has 37 points with four matches remaining. The fourth-placed USA has 35 points from all 36 matches. In this case, Scotland will not lose the top spot even if they lose all their remaining matches.
Nepal is in sixth place in League-2. Nepal has collected 22 points from 26 games with 10 matches left to play in League-2. Above Nepal, the fifth-placed UAE has 27 points from 26 matches. Bottom side PNG has just 5 points from 28 matches.
The top three teams of League-2 will qualify for the World Cup. The remaining four teams will have to play the qualifier playoffs.
Scotland and Oman have qualified for the World Cup from League-2. Now there is a competition between Namibia, Nepal and UAE for the remaining one place. In which Namibia remains in a strong position, it is difficult for Nepal to be in the top three.
ICC is conducting three leagues for the Cricket World Cup 2023 qualifiers. In which there are Super League between 12 Test recognized teams and 13 teams including Netherlands, League-2 between seven ODI recognized teams including Nepal and Challenge League between associate teams.
7 teams from the Super League and eight teams including the host India will reach the World Cup 2023. Now, for two places, there will be a qualifying competition between five teams of Super League, three teams of League-2 and two teams of Qualifier Playoffs among 10 teams. In the qualifier playoffs, there will be a competition between four teams of League-2 and two teams of Challenge League.