ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2023 1st Match Zimbabwe vs Nepal. Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to field. After losing the toss and choosing to bat, Nepal collected 290 runs by taking 8 wickets in 50 overs. The two opening batsmen of the Nepalese team have batted brilliantly. Kushal Bhurtel was out for 99 just missing the century by 1 run. Aasif Sheikh was dismissed for 66 runs. Nepal batted very well today. Today's game is expected to be competitive.
Well, the match was not competitive in the end. I was actually surprised to see Zimbabwe win the match so easily. I did not think Zimbabwe would be able to actually get to the target let alone get to the target so easily. Zimbabwe won the match in the end by eight wickets and also having more than 30 balls left.
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I do not think that Zimbabwe will be able to win this match if Nepal does end up reaching 300. Because I trust Nepal to defend 300 with the bowling lineup that they have. But at the same time, it is looking like a good pitch to bat on. So, if Zimbabwe can keep up with the run rate and keep wickets in hand, they might be able to win. but still, it is going to be really hard.
Nepal scored a competitive total and for a moment i thought it would be a hard chase for Zimbabwe but once they started their innings those doubts were put to rest and they are cruising to victory as Craig Ervine is still in the crease scoring a century and the partnership between Sean Williams who is on 84 took the match away from Nepal.
As expected West Indies will be winning against USA as they lost their 6th wicket and the target is impossible to reach.
I thought that Nepal should have scored a little more. I think they should have gone to at least 300. But even that wouldn’t have been enough. Zimbabwe was very comfortable getting the win. I don’t think even 350 was going to be enough. This is a very good start from Zimbabwe in this tournament.