Stats: Nepal's Paras Khadka enters the record books with his four-wicket haul

The date August 01, 2018 will go down in the history books of Nepal Cricket as they featured in their first-ever ODI match against the Netherlands in Amstelveen. Nepal gained ODI status for the first time by finishing at number eight during the World Cup qualifiers held in March this year by defeating Hong Kong. Paras Khadka, their skipper, ensured that he carved history for himself during the historic ODI through his bowling performance though they lost the match by a 55-run margin.

Khadka dismissed Ben Cooper and Wesley Barresi, who were cruising at 50/1 by eighth over, in quick succession to reduce the hosts to 72/4  after electing to bat first. He returned to give a crucial break to his side by dismissing Michael Rippon, who top scored with 51 and Shane Snater for a duck in space on three deliveries. Khadka ended up with bowling figures of 4/26 in his ten overs as Nepal dismantled the Netherlands to 189.

Nepal had a golden chance to make their debut a memorable one when they were 85/1 in 18 overs before Khadka got out to his opposite number Pieter Seelaar for 12 runs. His dismissal triggered a collapse as Nepal were bowled out for 134 in 41.5 overs. Opener Gyanendra Malla scored 51 putting in a 58-run opening stand with Anil Sah (21). Their number four batsman Dipendra Airee scored 33 but none of the remaining seven batsmen got into double-digits.

Best bowling figures for a captain on ODI debut:

Paras Khadka’s figures of 4/26 are the best bowling figures by a player who made his ODI debut as a captain. As many as 36 players made their ODI debut while leading the team but only two players have taken a four-wicket haul. Zimbabwe’s Duncan Fletcher took 4/42 in the 1983 World Cup game against Australia, helping his team to register a 13-run win. Earlier with the bat, Fletcher scored an unbeaten 69 to help them to finish on 239/6. It was incidentally Zimbabwe’s first ever ODI match as well.

Khada is also only the fifth player to take a four-wicket-haul on captaincy debut in ODI cricket. His bowling figures of 4/26 stand at number four in the list of best figures for a player in first ODI match as a captain. Kenya’s Aasif Karim is the only player to bag a five-wicket-haul on ODI captaincy debut while Sri Lanka’s Ravi Ratnayeke took a four-wicket-haul in his only ODI match as a captain.

Best bowling figures on captaincy debut in ODI cricket:

(Stats as on August 1, 2018)