Blind World Cup: India thrashes Nepal, Deepak Malik scores big hundred

Defending champions India started their World Cup campaign with a big win over Nepal as Deepak Malik and Sunil Ramesh registered brilliant hundreds. India defeated Nepal by a huge margin of 274 runs in the opening game of the 3rd T20 Blind World Cup.

Brilliant hundreds from Sunil Ramesh and Deepak Malik helped India open their campaign at the 3rd T20 World Cup for the Blind, with a win over Nepal by 274 runs. The match was played at the Sledge Hammer Cricket Academy ground here in Faridabad.

Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also started their tournament with victories over Australia and South Africa respectively. India's match was witnessed by legendary hockey player Sandeep Singh.

Indian captain Ajay Kumar Reddy won the toss and elected to bat. The opening pair of Sunil Ramesh and Ajay Kumar Reddy started the innings on the front foot and played aggressively, putting up a partnership of 102 runs.

After Ajay's dismissal, Lalit Meena joined Sunil and stitched together a 72-run partnership, before Sunil retired hurt. The opener smashed 106 runs from 38 balls with the help of 25 boundaries.

Deepak Malik then continued the momentum of the innings along with vice-captain D. Venkateswara Rao. The pair remained unbeaten till the end with Deepak scoring a swashbuckling 113 of 34 balls (22x4, 3x6) and Venkateswara getting 67 of 22 (11x4, 2x6) as India amassed 382/2 in their allotted 20 overs.

Chasing a huge target Nepal was under pressure from the very first ball. They lost wickets at regular intervals. The Indians were brilliant in the field effecting 7 run-outs in the innings which did not allow Nepal to build any momentum. Their innings ended at 108/9 in 20 overs giving India a comprehensive win.

Bangladesh beat South Africa by 99 runs in the other round-robin match played at the Saket Sports Complex in Delhi. Put into bat by South Africa, Bangladesh riding on half-centuries by Salman and Abid scored 231/5 in 20 overs. South Africa ended their chase at 132/7 in their 20 overs.

At DDA Siri Fort Sports Complex in the national capital, Sri Lanka beat Australia by seven wickets to start their tournament with a win. Australia who was put into bat scored 158 for the loss of 9 wickets.

Cameron Matt top-scored for the Aussies with 48. Sri Lanka reached the target in just 13.4 overs, aided by good knocks from Suranga Sampath and Ruwan Wasantha, who scored 63 and 43 runs respectively.