Nepal stun Afghanistan by 5 wickets in Asian Games cricket upset

The Asian Games 2026 cricket event saw a major upset on Friday. In a Group A match played at Korogi Sports Club, the Nepal cricket team beat Afghanistan by five wickets. The win has completely changed the Group A quarterfinal equations.

Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat first, but the Afghan batters could not stand up to Nepal's sharp bowling. The team was all out for just 102 runs in 20 overs, losing seven wickets. Faisal Shinwari scored 30 runs off 33 balls, while Jadran also scored 30 runs off 40 balls before getting out. For Nepal, Kushal Bhurtel took four wickets for 21 runs in four overs, breaking the back of the Afghan innings. Lalit Rajbanshi also took three wickets for 13 runs in four overs. Nepal needed just 103 runs to win.

Nepal's chase also got off to a poor start. Kushal Bhurtel was out without scoring. Aasif Sheikh could manage only two runs, while Kushal Malla was also dismissed for nine runs. After that, Sandeep Jora and Rohit Paudel added 25 runs for the fourth wicket. Jora was out for 34 runs off 35 balls. Paudel then added a partnership of 46 runs with Dipendra Singh Airee, who was also dismissed after scoring 15 runs. In the end, Paudel, along with Gulshan Jha, took Nepal to victory. Paudel remained unbeaten on 33 runs off 32 balls, with the help of four boundaries. For Afghanistan, Fareedoon Daudzai, Ahmadzai and Gul Momand took one wicket each. Nepal reached the target with five wickets down in 17.2 overs, with 16 balls to spare.

Afghanistan had already secured two points by winning their first match, and despite this defeat, Nepal have also earned two points from this win. Afghanistan currently remain in first place due to a better run rate. Nepal will next face Japan in the same group, who currently have zero points. It will be interesting to see which team makes it to the quarterfinals. Two of the three teams in this group will advance to the quarterfinals, and the team finishing second will face India.