Nepal fell agonisingly short of a historic victory as South Africa secured a narrow one-run win, thanks to Tabraiz Shamsi’s double-wicket over and Ottneil Baartman’s composure at the death. Nepal was chasing South Africa’s 115/7 and needed 18 off the last 18 balls. Aasif Sheikh led the chase until Shamsi dismissed both Dipender Singh and Aasif in a crucial over, leaving the lower order to get 16 off 12.
Sompal Kami and Gulshan Jha managed to bring it down to 2 off 2. Baartman then bowled two short balls that Jha missed. On the second, Quinton de Kock’s throw ricocheted off Jha, but Heinrich Klaasen caught the ball and broke the stumps, catching Jha short of his crease. This one-run defeat ended Nepal’s T20 World Cup campaign.
Nepal almost matched South Africa’s PowerPlay performance and did better in the middle overs. However, the death overs proved crucial. South Africa scored 35 runs in this phase, which ultimately made the difference.
Rohit Paudel, Nepal captain: Very proud of the unit, especially the way we bowled and batted. We saw the wicket yesterday and thought it will be on the slower side. We saw that it helped spinners and thats when we introduced Kushal Bhurtel and carried on with the spinners. We were so close yet a little far. We didnt do well in the crunch moments but we fought very well. Well be on the other side next time if we play teams like this more often. I want to thank the fans for supporting us. We are very grateful to them.
Aiden Markram | South Africa Captain: Very grateful to have got the win. Don’t think we were anywhere near our best tonight. For large parts, don’t think we thought we’d be on the right side of that as well. Lot of learnings for us. We’ve got a really good pace attack and you have to back that. We spoke about coming in with energy and see if there was anything in the wicket. In hindsight we should’ve played another spinner, didn’t think it would spin that much. They (Nepal) bowled really well and made it tough for us. They put us under a lot of pressure and it shows the quality they have. Mix that with a lack of conviction in our dressing room so there’s a lot of learnings for us. It’s about backing the players we’ve developed and going forward with that. Conditions very different here, being able to adapt is important and the structure might change going forward. It’s one of the great challenges of cricket, being able to assess conditions and adapt. No injury to Keshav (Maharaj), Shamsi hadn’t played in a while, thought this was a great opportunity to get him some game time. In hindsight we should’ve played both spinners.