Mumbai, Feb 17 (IANS) Scotland captain Richie Berrington reflected on a hard-fought contest against Nepal, praising the electric atmosphere and acknowledging the decisive impact of Airee’s game-changing innings as they lost by seven wickets at the Wankhede Stadium.

Airee hammered an unbeaten 50 off 23 balls, smashing four boundaries and three maximums and with vital contributions from Kushal Bhurtel (43 off 35), Aasif Sheikh (33 off 27) and Kushal Jha (24 not out off 17), helped Nepal race to a memorable victory in their final league match.

“The atmosphere was incredible, always knew it would be a tough game against Nepal, with the crowd behind them. But full credit to Airee, he’s changed the momentum of the game. 170 was competitive, they bowled extremely well but we left a few out there,” saod Scotland captain Ricchie Berrington.

Nepal fought back in the last five overs in both innings. They first applied the brakes on Scotland with the ball when the European team was looking like cruising to a massive total and restricted them to 170/7. Then with the bat, they came back roaring from 98/3 in the 14th over, hammering 75 runs in the last six overs with Airee smashing four fours and three sixes while Jha struck one four and two sixes when it mattered the most as Nepal reached 173/3 in 19.2 overs to secure their maiden T20 World Cup win.

While noting that Scotland’s total of 170 was competitive and that his bowlers performed admirably, Berrington admitted there was lingering frustration over missed opportunities. Despite falling short, he applauded the team’s resilience, pride in competing strongly at this level, and optimism about building on their performances in a highly competitive 20-team World Cup.

“Took one innings to change the game and get the result for Nepal. We’ve shown once again we can compete at this level, but there’s some frustration there. We could have won a few more, but a lot to take forward as a team. Our preparation was very different to other teams but we embraced that. Would have liked a few more wins but pleased with some of the performances. It’s been great that this has been a 20-team World Cup, shows more exposure and all these teams will only get stronger. Got to take every opportunity in front of us.”

–IANS

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