In a truly historic moment for international cricket, Nepal secured a dominant Twenty20 series victory over the West Indies in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Their record-breaking 90-run win on Monday marked their second consecutive triumph against a full ICC member nation, with one match still left to play in the series.
Nepal set a challenging target of 173-6, fueled by exceptional, career-best innings from Aasif Sheikh and Sundeep Jora. Sheikh remained unbeaten with an impressive 68 runs off just 47 balls, while Jora smashed 63 runs from 39 deliveries, including five towering sixes. Their crucial 100-run partnership across 11 overs rescued Nepal after an early struggle at 43-3.
This momentous victory followed Nepal’s maiden win against the two-time world champions, the West Indies, just two days prior, where they emerged victorious by 19 runs.
Mohammad Aadil Alam delivered a sensational bowling performance, achieving a career-best 4-24 in his ninth T20 international appearance, dismantling the West Indies batting lineup.
The West Indies, fielding a second-string team that included 19-year-old leg-spinner Zishan Motara as their fifth debutant of the series, were bowled out for a meager 83 runs in just 17.1 overs. This total now stands as the lowest score by a full member nation against an associate team in T20 international history, surpassing England’s previous low of 88 against the Netherlands in the 2014 T20 World Cup.
Only three West Indies batsmen managed to reach double figures, with Jason Holder’s 21 runs being the highest contribution.
West Indies captain Akeal Hosein acknowledged the stark reality of the situation, stating, “For us, it’s just about understanding really fast that this is international cricket. If you try to benchmark yourself here and can’t match the level, then you need to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you’re really international material.”
Nepal captain Rohit Paudel expressed his team’s immense satisfaction: “We are very happy. It took a lot to win against a test-playing country. This was a very important series for us to showcase our cricket and talent to the world. The way we’ve been playing the last two or three years, lots of eyes are on us. The motivation is to complete a clean sweep.”
This defeat adds to a challenging period for West Indies cricket, following their test team’s earlier collapse for just 27 runs against Australia in Kingston in July, which was the second-lowest total in men’s test history.
The third and final T20 match of the series is scheduled for Tuesday, with Nepal eyeing a clean sweep.