India 147 for 0 (Rohit 74*, Gill 67*) beat Nepal 230 (Aasif 58, Kami 48, Jadeja 3-40, Siraj 3-61) by ten wickets via DLS method
It was short-lived, though, for Nepal as the Rohit launched an opening salvo after a lengthy rain break. He scooped, slog-swept, and reverse-swept his way to a 39-ball half-century. Gill, who had belted Kami for three fours in an over before the rain break, largely rode in Rohit’s slipstream upon resumption. By the time Gill got to his own fifty, India were just 29 away from victory. Rohit and Gill finished it off with 17 balls and all ten wickets to spare.
India weren’t as dominant in the early exchanges. Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli and wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan dropped three catches in the first five overs, allowing Nepal’s batters to ease in.
Nepal’s batters were more comfortable against pace, driving languidly in the ‘V’ and also ramping audaciously in the ‘V’ behind the wicket. Bhurtel, who was reprieved twice, punished India with his attacking intent and enterprise. He played arguably the shot of the day when he hooked Mohammed Siraj over square leg and out of the ground. Siraj kept digging the ball into the deck and kept leaking runs.
Allrounder Shardul Thakur provided India the opening breakthrough in the last over of the powerplay, but he was also lacklustre during his short shift of four overs.
The left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav worked in tandem to help India seize control. Jadeja proved difficult to get away with his turn – and lack thereof – claiming figures of 3 for 40 in his ten overs. It wasn’t until Jadeja’s eighth over that Nepal scored a boundary off him. Kuldeep wasn’t among the wickets on Monday, but he was almost as thrifty as Jadeja with his stock ball and wrong’un on a helpful surface.
Dipendra Singh Airee and Kami then showed that they could also cut it against India’s superstars. Kami, in particular, lined up the short balls from Siraj and Hardik Pandya during his 48 off 56 balls while Airee contributed 29 off 25 balls.
Gill’s calm and the Rohit storm then blew Nepal’s attack away in a truncated chase.