Shayan Jahangir scored an unbeaten 60 off 34 balls, but most of his fireworks came well after Dipendra Singh Airee decimated USA, first with the bat and then with a runout plus three wickets in the field to lift the visitors to a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Photo credit: USA Cricket 

By Peter Della Penna in Grand Prairie, Texas (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Playing their first home T20I since the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, USA could not recover from a slow start to their chase, stumbling to 27 for 3 in the Powerplay in pursuit of Nepal’s first innings total of 164 for 9 before eventually falling short by 17 runs as Nepal took a 1-0 lead in the three-match Stake Stars & Summit Series at Grand Prairie Stadium on Thursday night. Dipendra Singh Airee was named Player of the Match after his 28 off 17 balls as part of a half-century stand with captain Rohit Paudel was followed by 3 for 27 in three overs of clever offspin, including the wickets of Milind Kumar and Harmeet Singh on his first two deliveries after entering in the 16^th over killed off any realistic chance of a late USA rally. 
 
USA won the toss and elected to field first as Aaron Jones returned to USA’s lineup after missing the tour of Namibia to participate in the Caribbean Premier League with eventual champions St Lucia Kings as well as fast bowler Ali Khan, who had not appeared for USA since the T20 World Cup due to injury. 
 
Nepal got off to a solid start after being sent in as Anil Sah and Aasif Sheikh put on a 48-run stand across 5.3 overs. Whether it was against pace or spin, the pair remained aggressive by scoring at least one boundary across each of their first five overs, punctuated by a six heaved by Sah against Nosthush Kenjige over long-on in the fourth over. The stand finally ended on a questionable lbw decision after Khan trapped Sah for 27 on the back foot with a length ball that was tailing toward leg stump. Though wicketkeeper Andries Gous showed no interest in joining Khan’s appeal, the bowler won a decision from umpire Vijaya Mallela. 
 
USA’s twin left-arm spinners then took control in the middle overs as Harmeet Singh struck in the 10^th, getting Aasif bowled for a run a ball 27 on a failed attempt to drive through the off side after backing away to expose his stumps. Kenjige struck on the first ball of the following over, getting Kushal Bhurtel bowled for 10 after the Nepal No. 3 ran past a fullish delivery and missed a flick through the leg side. Harmeet took his second in the 13^th after switching ends, getting Gulshan Jha for 11 after a failed attempt to reverse sweep targeting the short boundary resulted in him being bowled to make it 93 for 4. 
 
But just when USA appeared to be fully in command, Nepal’s formerly brittle middle-order turned the game around through a 66-run stand between Airee and Paudel. After three dots to begin his innings, Airee began to surge in the 14^th with an audacious six driving Kenjige inside out over extra cover. After seeing off Harmeet’s final over in the 16^th for just six runs, Paudel then attacked Jessy Singh in the 17^th, slashing three consecutive boundaries through third man with the final boundary in the sequence barely eluding a leaping effort from Khan positioned on the ring at short third. Airee then struck two boundaries off Khan in a 15-run over in the 18^thbefore Paudel capped the stand by heaving Netravalkar for a flat six over midwicket. 
 
Airee finally fell on the penultimate ball of the 19^th when an aerial drive against Saurabh Netravalkar picked out Jones 15 yards inside the rope at cover sweeper to make it 159 for 5. It began a dramatic sequence in which Nepal lost five wickets on the final eight balls of the innings for just five runs. Netravalkar rounded off his spell with a second wicket on the next ball, getting Karan KC to edge a wide yorker behind to Gous for a golden duck. 
 
Jessy then struck twice in the final over, first getting Aarif Sheikh for another golden duck pulling flat to Shayan Jahangir at deep midwicket for a sharp head high catch on the boundary to deny a six. Sompal Kami ran two off his first delivery before he was bowled off his second ball missing a heave across the line. After a leg bye by Sagar Dhakal put Paudel back on strike for the final ball of the innings on 48, the captain drove a single to wide long off before Milind Kumar’s relay to Gous at the striker’s end was in time to deny Paudel what would have been a second consecutive T20I fifty following an unbeaten innings against Oman to wrap up the tri-series tour of Canada at the start of October. 
 
Harmeet finished with USA’s best figures on the night, taking 2 for 18 off four overs without conceding a boundary. Both Netravalkar and Jessy finished with identical figures of 2 for 35 in four overs. Kenjige claimed 1 for 36 off his four overs while Khan ended with 1 for 31 in his return to USA colors.
 
At the innings break, it appeared that Nepal’s late collapse might be a difference-maker for USA, especially considering USA’s success in chasing a pair of high targets against Canada and Pakistan on the same ground during the T20 World Cup in June. However, USA struggled to get out of first gear in the early part of the chase. 
 
Sai Mukkamalla, who struggled in the field throughout the Nepal innings, fell for 2 in the second over when an attempt to drive Karan over mid-off failed to clear a backpedaling Paudel. A decision to bring wicketkeeper Aasif up to the stumps to start the third over for left-arm medium pacer Rijan Dhakal delivered immediate dividends when Monank Patel was stuck in his crease beaten through the gate on an attempted drive on the first ball of the over and bowled for 3 to make it 8 for 2. Dot ball pressure on Aaron Jones resulted in USA’s vice-captain running himself out for 3 in the sixth. After three dots to start the over against left-arm spinner Sagar Dhakal, confusion between Jones and Gous on a punch toward extra cover resulted in Jones being stranded halfway down the pitch, unable to make his ground back to beat a relay from Airee to Aasif over the striker’s stumps making it 26 for 3. 
 
Gous initially shook off the Jones dismissal by slamming Bhurtel for six in the 10^th over, taking USA to 56 for 3 at the halfway stage. But the USA wicketkeeper fell very softly for 30 in the 11^th, guiding a gentle cut shot straight into the hands of Sah at backward point for a wicket to Jha. Milind and Jahangir then teamed up for a 38-run stand that was dominated by Jahangir, who sent Jha twice to the boundary in a 15-run 13^th over. 
 
At that stage it looked like the pair were dragging USA back into the match as the home side needed 71 off the final 30 balls. It was then that Airee was handed the ball to bowl his offies for the first time on the night and he struck immediately. Milind tried to slap a length ball over the short off side boundary, but his attempt to clear extra cover instead wound up being a flat shot picking out Sah at long-off for 22. A much bigger blow was struck next ball when the dangerous Harmeet, who was USA’s only left-hander of the night, was defeated by a quicker ball that pinned him on the crease for a straightforward lbw decision to make it 94 for 6. 
 
Jahangir and Jessy produced USA’s largest partnership of the night, adding 44 runs for the seventh wicket, including 18 runs off the 19^th over. Jessy drove Sompal over long-off for six off the second ball of the over before Jahangir struck a towering six over long-on, followed by a flick through fine leg for a boundary to bring up a 32-ball half-century. 
 
However, USA entered the final over still needing 31 runs to win. A dot from Airee to Jessy off the first ball meant that USA could only tie and force a Super Over if the subsequent five deliveries all went for six. But Singh could only manage a boundary off the second ball of the over. A thigh high full toss off the next ball was miscued to Sah at long-off to end the partnership and dismiss Jessy for 16. The final ball of play was spilled over the rope for six on a diving effort at long-on to produce the final margin as USA ended on 147 for 7 while Jahangir ended unbeaten on 60 off 34 balls. 
 
Airee’s bowling figures of 3 for 27 off three overs combined with his first innings batting contribution and a runout in the field cemented Player of the Match honors. Karan was superb in his four overs ending with 1 for 18. Rijan never returned after three overs in the Powerplay and ended with 1 for 21. Jha was the only other wicket-taker for Nepal, ending with 1 for 19 off his two overs. Sagar bowled a crucial spell of left-arm spin, returning 0 for 19 off four overs. Sompal was Nepal’s most expensive bowler on the night, conceding 0 for 31 off three. 
 
The two teams have a rest day on Friday before returning to action again on Saturday night at Grand Prairie Stadium for the second match of the Stake Stars & Summit Series, beginning at 7 pm local time.