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Who would have predicted that: Sandeep Lamichhane 6/16 pockets best figures by an associate bowler in ODIs

Sandeep Lamichhane

©ICC

In our feature series - Who would have predicted that? – we are looking back at matches where there were big upsets or extraordinary individual performances that turned matches on their head.

Rashid Khan had picked up 7/18 against West Indies just weeks before Afghanistan was granted test status, which are the best-ever figures in ODIs by an associate bowler. Considering that Afghanistan are a full-member now, Nepal's Sandeep Lamichhane currently holds the distinction.

Match Summary

United States of America 35 (12 overs) - Xavier Marshall 16 (22), Akshay Homraj 4 (5); Sandeep Lamichhane 6/16(6), Sushan Bhari 4/5(3)

Nepal 36/2 (5.2 overs) - Paras Khadka* 20 (12), Dipendra Singh Airee* 15 (11); Nosthush Kenjige 2/15 (2.2), Timil Patel 0/21 (3)

Result - Nepal won by 8 wickets

In an encounter between Nepal and United States which was part of the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2019-2022, spectators got to see the lowest innings total in ODIs as USA were bowled out for just 35 runs within 12 overs. This is also the shortest completed innings in an ODI in terms of balls.

Lamichhane's effort meant that it took Nepal only 72 balls to wipe out the USA. The leggie pocketed 6 wickets from his 6 overs while giving away just 16 runs, bowling at an economy rate of 2.70.

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Ian Holland, 1.6 ov), 2-23 (Xavier Marshall, 6.1 ov), 3-27 (Monank Patel, 7.2 ov), 4-29 (Nisarg Patel, 7.5 ov), 5-29 (Aaron Jones, 8.3 ov), 6-30 (Timil Patel, 9.5 ov), 7-31 (Cameron Stevenson, 10.1 ov), 8-31 (Rusty Theron, 10.6 ov), 9-35 (Akshay Homraj, 11.3 ov), 10-35 (Nosthush Kenjige, 11.6 ov)

Nepal took only 32 deliveries to chase down the total as they won the match by two wickets. It was an early close for players of both teams, officials and everybody else involved as the game was done and dusted within two hours.

Sandeep Lamichhane's experience on the global T20 circuit certainly helped as he had been bowling with the new ball and in the powerplay for the past two years and thus was able to grip the ball well and extract the most out of the new nut.

Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Gyanendra Malla, 1.2 ov), 2-2 (Subash Khakurel, 1.5 ov)

Teams

Nepal - Subash Khakurel, Gyanendra Malla (c), Paras Khadka, Dipendra Singh Airee, Aarif Sheikh, Kushal Malla, Binod Bhandari (wk), Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Sushan Bhari, Lalit Rajbanshi

United States - Xavier Marshall, Monank Patel, Ian Holland, Aaron Jones, Akshay Homraj (wk), Nisarg Patel, Cameron Stevenson, Timil Patel, Rusty Theron, Nosthush Kenjige, Saurabh Netravalkar (c)