Mumbai, Feb 17 (IANS) Michael Jones hammered a superb 71 to give Scotland a great start, but Nepal rode on a three-wicket burst by Sompal Kami to restrict them to 170/7 in 20 overs in Match 33 of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Jones struck eight fours and two sixes in his 45-ball knock and shared vital partnerships — 80 for the opening wicket with George Munsey, and 52 for the second with Brandon McMullum as Scotland were cruising towards a score in excess of 180, as their bowlers failed to take advantage of opting to bowl first.

But Sompal Kami led their brilliant fightback with a double-strike in the 16th over and the team from the Himalayas, which had impressed with a magical performance against England in their opening match, bounced back in the last five overs and set themselves up for their first win in the 2026 edition of the competition.

Michael Jones gave Scotland a great start as he and his opening partner, George Munsey, raised 80 runs for the first-wicket partnership. After two quite overs at the start, Jones exploded into action with a four and a six off Dipendra Singh Airee in the third. He punched square and steered behind point back-to-back deliveries from Nandan Yadav to the fence and continued the double act with two fours off Sompal Kami in the fifth over.

Jones unleashed shots all around the ground, cutting, driving, punching and steering the ball as the Nepal pacers struggled to hit the hard length. Scotland reached 52 for no loss in the Power-play. As his main bowlers failed to make any impression, Nepal skipper Rohit Paudel brought himself on and made the breakthrough, getting Munsey to hit a reverse sweep uppishly, and Sundeep Jora completed an easy catch.

Jones, who brought his fifty off 31 balls (6×4, 2×6), and Brandon McMullen raised 52 runs for the second wicket, with Jones hitting Lamichhane for a boundary and hammering Kushal Bhurtel for a four and six.

But just when it looked like Scotland were cruising to a massive score, Nepal reeled them in, with Sompal Kami applying the brakes with two wickets in three balls, castling Jones (71) from round the wicket with a slower one and then plucking a sensational one-handed catch off his own bowling to send McMullan (25, 19 b, 1×4, 1×1).

Nepal continued to pull things down as Scotland lost skipper Richie Barrington (10), Tom Bruce (5), and Matthew Cross (4) in quick succession and slumped to 156/6 in the 19th over. Mark Watt struck 10 off four balls, including a six off the last ball, to help his team reach a defendable total.

Sompal Kami was the best bowler for Nepal with 3-25 while Nandan Yadav bagged 2-34 in the backend of the innings.

Brief scores:

Scotland 170/7 in 20 overs (Michael Jone 71, George Munsey 27; Sompal Kami 3-25, Nandan Yadav 2-34) against Nepal

–IANS

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