Nepal-W vs Uganda-W, 2nd T20I Review: Uganda win a low-scoring thriller to extend their lead in five-match series

Uganda Women defeated hosts Nepal Women on May 17 (Tuesday) in the second T20I match of the five-match series played at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kirtipur. It was a nail-biting thriller as the visitors restricted the hosts to 101 runs in their allotted 20 overs, and chased it down in the last over, with just one ball to spare.

Uganda skipper Concy Aweko won the toss and elected to field first. Nepal started the game on a sluggish note as opener Indu Barma (5 off 13) lost her wicket in just the fifth over. Apsari Begam (3 off 12), who had replaced Barma could not work her charm with the bat and followed her out soon. It was Bindu Rawal who kept going but could not manage to strike much with the bat.

Rawal (26 off 36) and Sarita Magar (22 off 27) stitched a decent partnership in the middle before the former fell prey to Rita Musamali. Apart from the two, no other batter could manage to hit hard as Nepal ended their innings scoring just 101 runs, losing seven wickets in the meantime. Uganda bowlers were terrific in restricting the hosts to a low score, but the batters had a task to do now.

Uganda’s struggle ended late, but positively

Coming to the chase, the Uganda opener Kevin Awino (4 off 4) was dismissed In the very first over by Kabita Kunwar. Janet Mbabazi, who had replaced her added a run-a-ball 16 runs before falling into Sita Rana Magar’s trap. Leona Babirye failed to surprise as well and could manage to score only nine runs off the 19 balls that she faced, before finding her way back to the pavilion.

Musamali was the top scorer for her side as she put up a crucial knock of 30 (34), but her exit made it very difficult for the visitors to cope. Uganda faced a mini-collapse towards the end when they lost four wickets in the final two overs and required minimum runs for the win, courtesy of Shabnam Rai (two wickets) and Kunwar (one wicket and a run-out).

Both the teams worked hard till the end in order to win the game, but it was the visitors who emerges victorious as they survived a dreadful collapse, and beat Nepal by just one wicket thereby taking a 2-0 lead in the series.