West Indies qualify for Super 8, Nepal knocked out

Dipendra Singh Airee's half-century was in vain as West Indies defeated Nepal by nine wickets comfortably to advance to the Super 8s. Jason Holder hit a four-run homer, and the batters pitched a strong performance to beat Nepal by 133 runs on Sunday at Wankhede Stadium and eliminate them from the tournament. Put in to bat, Nepal never found the momentum in their innings. Opener Kushal Bhurtel was cleaned up in the opening over, and skipper Rohit Poudel was trapped legbefore on 5 soon. Before Airee began the resurrection in the company of the lower middle order, Nepal had been reduced to 23 for 4 by the seventh over. Matthew Forde was particularly impressive in keeping Nepal at bay, bowling four consecutive overs. Airee, along with Lokesh Bam and Gulshan Jha, provided two crucial partnerships to keep the innings on track, albeit at a snail's pace. They gave the spinners a random charge, but Airee and Sompal Kami went after the pacers in the final moments. Kami hit three boundaries off Holder in the 18th over, and Airee followed that up with two sixes off Shamar Joseph in the next over, the first of which brought him to his half-century. They got the momentum they needed with 44 runs scored in three overs, but Holder came back to bowl an impressive final over, where he took two wickets with his yorkers. West Indies responded by having little trouble in the run chase, even though the ball held up a little on the surface and it was easy to make shots. With a boundary through cover-point off the first ball, Brandon King got going. The West Indian openers were able to score at least one boundary every over without taking many risks. They started to break free only in the fifth over. King set the stage for the cruise by locking Kami up for three fours. Nepal did not pose enough of a threat to West Indies to turn the momentum in their favor until King left in the final powerplay over, holing out to mid on to end a 44-run opening stand. Shimron Hetmyer stubbed the threat of Sandeep Lamichhane and kept the boundaries coming, including stepping out against the leggie and depositing a six over long on. Hope also got in on the act later, and in the 15th over, he hit a couple sixes of Lamichhane to make his half-century.