Nepal Beat Afghanistan By Five Wickets On Asian Games Day Two

Nepal beat Afghanistan by five wickets at Korogi Sports Park in Nisshin on Friday, opening their Asian Games campaign against the only Full Member in Group A. Afghanistan were held to 102 for 7 from their 20 overs. Nepal knocked the runs off for the loss of five. It was Afghanistan's first defeat of the tournament.

Afghanistan had beaten the hosts Japan in the competition's opening match on Thursday. Friday was Nepal's first outing. The two sides now sit level on one win each in a three-team group that Japan can still disrupt.

Bhurtel and Rajbanshi share seven

Kushal Bhurtel took 4 for 21 from four overs. Lalit Rajbanshi returned 3 for 13, also from four. Seven Afghanistan wickets fell and the two of them took all seven. Nepal's other bowlers went wicketless.

Najibullah Zadran made 30 from 40 balls. Faisal Shinozada also made 30, his from 33. Those two innings accounted for 60 of Afghanistan's 102, which left the rest of the order contributing fewer than half the total between them.

Nepal's reply

Sundeep Jora made 34 from 35 balls. Rohit Paudel finished unbeaten on 33 from 32. Nepal completed the chase inside 19 overs. Accounts of exactly how long it took differ, with Nepalnews recording 17.2 overs and SportsTak 18.4, so the margin in balls is best left open.

Hong Kong, China hold off Oman

Hong Kong, China won the day's other match by 41 runs. Hafeez Khan made 33 and Babar Hayat 23 in a total of 121 for 8. Ayush Shukla then took three wickets as Oman were restricted to 80. Sufyan Mehmood made 26 in that reply.

Reports differ on how Oman's innings ended. The ICC recorded them all out for 80, while IANS had them 80 for 6 after their 20 overs. Either way the total was the same and so was the margin.

Malaysia had beaten Hong Kong, China in their opening fixture, so this was a first win at the second attempt. Oman are still without a point.

The groups after two days

• Group A: Afghanistan one win and one defeat, Nepal one win, Japan one defeat
• Group B: Malaysia one win, Hong Kong China one win and one defeat, Oman one defeat
• Group A still to play: Nepal against Japan on Saturday
• Group B still to play: Oman against Malaysia
• Byes to the quarter-finals: India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh

Ten teams are entered in the men's event. Six of them play the group stage while the four highest seeds wait, and the top two in each group join those four in the quarter-finals. The ICC has the quarter-finals down for 28 and 29 September, the semi-finals on 1 October and the medal matches on 3 October. That leaves each group one fixture to settle it.