Nepal beat Scotland in most dramatic circumstances in their ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 match in Dundee on Monday when, off what turned out to be the last ball of the match, Scotland appeared to have got the last wicket – which would have pushed the game to a Super Over – but a delayed signal for wide from the umpire broke their hearts, and sparked joy in the Nepal camp.Here’s what happened.It was Mark Watt, the left-arm spinner, with the ball, and Karan KC on strike off the penultimate ball of the match. Watt went around the wicket and speared the ball in, but missed his mark. Karan, almost running before the ball had reached him, attempted a flick but missed. Matthew Cross behind the stumps failed to gather – though that would be rendered irrelevant eventually – scrambled around to pick up the rogue ball, and somehow managed to break the stumps even as Nepal’s last man, Rijan Dhakal, put in a dive.
The moment the stumps were broken, the Scotland players rushed about the pitch celebrating. It took them a few seconds to realise that the umpire had called the ball a wide. Karan, running towards the umpire, spotted the signal and raised his bat even as Watt and the other Scotland players were also milling about with arms raised. The shoulders drooped immediately. It was the Nepal last pair doing the celebrating now.Cue, a pitch invasion. The Nepal players were all over Karan, the all-round hero of the win. He was lifted on to shoulders soon after. The Scotland players walked off dejected, knowing that it was, indeed, a wide and they had nothing to challenge.”What a finish. It was all confusion. I don’t think I even know what happened,” the commentator said on the broadcast. It was that sort of finish.That it came to that situation was down, to a large extent, because of Karan.
Nepal had won the toss and fielded. Karan, the right-arm quick, was the best of their bowlers, returning 2 for 43, but opener Charlie Tear’s 80 and Finlay McCreath’s 55 led Scotland to a solid 296 for 7.The Nepal reply stuttered after a good start as they lost wickets in clumps. And especially when they went from 152 for 2 to 192 for 7 – right-arm quick Brandon McMullen triggering the slide with the big wickets of Bhim Sharki, Rohit Paudel and Dipendra Singh Airee – Scotland were clear favourites.Enter Karan again. He first put on a 60-run stand for the eighth wicket with Gulsan Jha, who scored 42 in 30 balls, and then did it all on his own, finishing with 65 not out off 41 balls with three fours and four sixes.It was Nepal’s highest successful chase in ODIs, but they are still down at No. 7 on the eight-team table, while Scotland are at No. 4.
