Nepal has reached the final by defeating Gujarat by 8 runs in SMS Friendship T20 Cup held in India. Chasing the target of 182 runs, Gujarat lost 7 wickets in 20 overs and scored 173 runs. Gujarat captain Umanga Patel scored 47 runs with 4 fours and 2 sixes in 24 balls. Abhishek Desai scored 20, Smit Patel 19 and Priyas Patel scored 17 runs. Harsh Desai was not out for 29 runs with 4 fours and 1 six off 16 balls.
Nepal’s Sompal Kami took 2 wickets in 4 overs for 18 runs. Gulshan Jha took 2 wickets for 37 runs in 4 overs. Kushal Malla took 2 wickets with 3 runs in 1 over. Vivek Yadav took 1 wicket. Before that, Nepal, who lost the toss and were invited to bat first, scored 181 runs after losing 7 wickets in 20 overs. Opener Asif Shaikh played the highest innings of 85 runs off 51 balls with 10 fours and 5 sixes. Kushal Bhurtel was dismissed for 67 runs off 44 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes. Asif and Kushal got off to a great start for Nepal with a century partnership of 125 runs in 13.3 overs. After that, after losing consecutive wickets due to big shots, Nepal could not reach a total of more than 200. Rohit Paudel 3, Sandeep Zora 2, Gulshan Jha 4, Anil Shah and Kushal Malla were out for 1 run. Pratish GC 4 and Vivek Yadav remained not out for 7 runs. Jaymeet Patel of Gujarat took 3 wickets with 46 runs in 4 overs. Aryan Desai and Dharushant Soni took 2 wickets each. Nepal will play against Baroda on Friday. The final will be held on Sunday. Nepal will play the final between Baroda and Gujarat.