Hong Kong slumped to 69 all out in an 80-run demolition at the hands of Nepal on the opening day of the World Twenty20.
Nepal’s strong 149 for eight was built on 48 from Gyanendra Malla and captain Paras Khadka’s 41 in the day/night game at Chittagong, which followed Bangladesh’s thrashing of Afghanistan at Mirpur in the same qualifying group.
Nepalese left-arm spinners Basant Regmi and Shakti Gauchan split six wickets as Hong Kong, who had won the toss, were dismissed in 17 overs.
In the first World T20 match between two Associate nations, Malla and Khadka added 80 for the third wicket after the opening batsmen went in the powerplay.
Khadka was badly shelled on 20 with the stand worth 32 before he eventually fell to Najeeb Amar. Malla was one of three victims for Haseeb Amjad, who took two of the four wickets to go down in the last four balls of the innings.
The skipper then opened the bowling and struck first ball to have Irfan Ahmed caught behind.
Four wickets in eight mid-innings deliveries did for Hong Kong, who had beaten Netherlands and Zimbabwe in their warm-up games.
Regmi and Gauchan shared that quartet of strikes and returned 3-14 and 3-9 respectively. Gauchan’s second wicket was Babar Hayat, who top-scored for his side with 20.