nepali teamKathmandu: Nepal suffered a six wicket defeat by Hong Kong in their second game of the ACC Twenty20 Cup at the Tribhuvan University (TU) cricket ground in Kirtipur on Wednesday.

Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Nepal’s 116 run target was not enough for the host side as Hong Kong reached the target with 21 balls to spare.

Despite removing the danger man Irfan Ahmed (30), who scored 39-ball 87 against Malaysia yesterday, in the fourth over, Hong Kong steadily reached the target with Nizakat Khan’s 42 and Waqas Barkat’s 39. Khan and Barkat’s laid the winning foundation for their side with 70-run partnership for the third wicket.

Basanta Regmi took three wickets and Shakti Gauchan grabbed one in his kitty.

Gyanendra Malla was the top scorer for the host nation with 38 off 39 balls followed by Pradeep Airee with 21. Airee, who had a man-of-the-match performance against Maldives yesterday, was caught in the seventh over when he failed to clear the ground. Binod Bhandari (15) and Shakti Gauchan (11) were the other batsmen to put a notable contributions for Nepal.

Nadeem Ahmed took three wickets conceding just 18 runs in his four overs for Hong Kong. Aizaz Khan and Tanwir Afzal also registered two each in their name while Karan Shah grabbed on in his account.