Kathmandu, Apr. 14: Dipendra Singh Airee was the hero for Nepal on Saturday as the team defeated Qatar with dominance in the group-stage of the ACC Men’s Premier Cup 2024. 

In the second group-stage match of the tournament for Nepal, Airee became only the third batsman in international T20 cricket to hit six sixes in an over. Yuvraj Singh was the first to do so in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2007 off Stuart Broad while Kieron Pollard joined Singh in 2021 by smashing Akila Dananjaya for six sixes in Coolidge.

And on Saturday, Airee hit six sixes to Qatar’s Kamran Khan in the final over of the first inning. Airee scored 64 runs off only 21 deliveries and took the team’s total over the 200-run mark with the devastating batting.

“Airee was on 28 off 15 balls before the start of the final over of the innings against Kamran Khan. He went on to hit every ball of the last over for six to finish on 64 off 21 balls. Interestingly, last year, Airee hit six consecutive sixes in the Asian Games against Mongolia, but then the feat was spread across two overs when he smashed the fastest fifty in T20Is in nine balls, breaking Yuvraj Singh’s record of 12 deliveries,” stated ICC in an article on its website after Airee’s six sixes.

“We never know what he brings to the team. He bats, bowls, field, he can do everything,” said Nepali skipper Rohit Kumar Paudel when asked on Airee’s performance.  

“I have been practicing hard with the bat and ball and it is reflecting now. I thought I could hit six sixes after I hit the fourth one. I am happy with the score. I really appreciate how the team believes in me,” said Airee as he congratulated Nepali fans for the New Year 2081 B.S.

Electing to bat first, Nepal, in loss of seven wickets, gave a target of 211 runs to Qatar. Alongside Airee, Aasif Sheikh also registered an individual half-century while Kushal Malla also contributed 

satisfactorily.

While Aasif departed after adding 52 off 41 deliveries, Kushal Malla added 35 runs off 18 deliveries on the board. Kushal Bhurtel (12 off 11) and skipper Rohit (18 off 17) could not score satisfactorily.

While the middle-order – Sundeep Jora (7 off 6), Gulshan Jha (5 off 4) and Bibek Yadav (5 off 4) – also could not score enough, it was Airee’s six sixes that rescued Nepal and aided the team to post a formidable target.

Of the seven bowlers used by Qatar, Himanshu Rathod and Musawar Shah bagged three wickets while Amir Farooq took one. 

The six sixes motivated the Nepali team and it was visible when the squad was defending the target. 

Lalit Rajbanshi took the first wicket for the team as he bowled his first delivery in the second over. Saqlain Arshad (1 off 3) was the first wicket that fell for Qatar.

Opener Kamran Khan and in-at-three Mohammad Ahnaff partnered for a while and took the team to 41 runs by the end of the fifth over as Ahnaff departed after adding 23 off 18. Kamran (18 off 13) followed Ahnaff as he departed in the 7th over. 

It was only skipper Muhammad Tanveer who was able to score sufficiently. Qatar was in the chase until Tanveer was at the crease. However, he departed in the 15th over after scoring 63 off 33.

Airee, Rajbanshi and Gulshan Jha took two wickets each for Nepal while Kushal Malla and Abinash Bohora bagged one each to restrict Qatar to 178 runs by the end of the 20 overs. Qatar lost nine wickets by the end of the chase.

Sompal Kami was the only Nepali bowler to not take any wicket in the match. Airee was adjudged the Man of the Match for his performance with both bat and ball.

Nepal has climbed to the top of Group A after two consecutive wins. Nepal, which is also the defending champion after winning the first edition of the tournament last year, is in Group A with Qatar, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia while Group B consists of the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Cambodia.

Nepal defeated Malaysia in the first match on Friday. Nepal will face Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia on April 15 and 17 respectively. After playing one match each against the four group members, top two teams from each group progress for the playoffs.