Rita Musamali headlines second T20I as Uganda make it two-in-two against Nepal

An all-round performance from Rita Musamali headlined Uganda’s thrilling one-wicket win against Nepal at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur on Tuesday (May 17). With this win, they made it two-in-two in the five-match T20I series.



Opting to field first, Uganda struck twice early to remove Indu Barma and Apsari Begam to leave Nepal reeling at 29 for 2. From there, Bindu Rawat and Sarita Magar helped them recover, but it was skipper Rubina Chhetry’s 17 that took Nepal over the three-figure mark.



For Uganda, once again it was Mbabazi who took the wickets as she finished with figures of two for 26 from her four overs. Captain Consylate Numungu was frugal in her bowling with two for 14, while Musamali picked up the key wicket of Rawat.



In reply, Uganda chase was wrecked early with them losing Kevin Awino and an aggressive Mbabazi early. The latter made 16 from 16 balls before falling to Sita Rana Magar – who was playing her first game of the series after a successful stint in the FairBreak Invitational T20 tournament – in the fifth over.



ALSO READ: Janet Mbabazi helps Uganda win series opener against Nepal



Batting at number four, Musmali added 30 runs with opener Leona Babirye to take Uganda over the 50-run mark. At one stage, they were looking comfortable in the chase with the score reading 78 for 3 in the 15^th over.



However, with Musamali getting run out for 30, Uganda had a collapse and were reduced to 98 for 9 leaving the last pair to get four runs from the final four balls. Numungu took a single in the third delivery and then Sarah Akiteng scored a double before knocking off the winning single in the penultimate ball.



Brief Scores: Nepal 101/7 in 20 overs (Bindu Rawat 26, Sarita Magar 22; Janet Mbabazi 2/26) lost to Uganda 102/9 in 19.5 overs (Rita Musamali 30, Franklin Najjumba 19; Kabita Kunwar 2/18) by one-wicket POTM: Rita Musamali