ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers 2023 witnessed two exciting encounters take place on Sunday (July 2), with Sri Lanka edging past Zimbabwe in the Super Sixes round and Nepal defeating UAE in the 7th Place Play-off Semi-Final 2.
Speaking of the match between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, the Islanders won the toss and opted to bowl first. The decision turned out to be a good call as Zimbabwe had a challenging start to their innings and lost opener Joylord Gumbie for a duck. Although Craig Ervine (14) looked good, he also failed to build a partnership. Sean Williams then played a crucial knock of 56 runs off 57 deliveries to anchor the Zimbabwean innings. Sikandar Raza contributed 31 runs as well. However, Zimbabwe were eventually bowled out for 165 runs in 32.2 overs.
Maheesh Theekshana was the pick of the Sri Lankan bowlers, taking four wickets for 25 runs. Dilshan Madushanka and Matheesha Pathirana also performed well, bagging three and two scalps, respectively.
Chasing a modest target of 166 runs, Sri Lanka dominated the proceedings. Opener Pathum Nissanka played a brilliant innings, scoring an unbeaten century. Nissanka hammered impressive 101 runs off 102 deliveries, including fourteen fours. Dimuth Karunaratne also contributed 30 runs, with Kusal Mendis adding 25 runs. As a result, Sri Lanka comfortably chased down the target in just 33.1 overs, losing only one wicket. Richard Ngarava was the lone wicket-taker for Zimbabwe.
On the other hand, Neapl won the toss against UAE and invited them to bat first in the 7th Place Play-off Semi-Final 2. The UAE batters struggled to find consistency and were eventually bowled out for 181 runs in 46.5 overs. Vritiya Aravind top-scored for the UAE with 44 runs, followed by Rohan Mustafa‘s 35 and Basil Hameed‘s 29. Sandeep Lamichhane was the standout bowler for Nepal, claiming three wickets while conceding just 23 runs in his quota of overs. Karan KC, Pratis GC, and Gulshan Kumar Jha also contributed with crucial wickets.
In reply, Nepal faced some early setbacks but managed to recover and secure a thrilling victory. Dipendra Singh Airee played a crucial knock of 79 runs off 85 deliveries, including seven fours and two sixes. Meanwhile, Kushal Bhurtel provided a steady start with 35 runs. Lamichhane contributed valuable 23 runs as well to help Nepal reach the target in 43.2 overs with three wickets in hand. Among the UAE bowlers, Muhammad Jawadullah was the pick of the lot, taking three wickets for 46 runs in his ten overs.
