Zimbabwe clinched victory over Nepal by five wickets in the opening game of the T20I tri-series, including hosts Singapore, on Friday (September 27) at the Indian Association Ground. 

Restricted to 37/4 needing 133 for a win, Zimbabwe found heroes in Ryan Burl and Richmond Mutumbami who struck unbeaten knocks of 41 and 40, respectively, to take their team home with 11 balls to spare. 

Mutumbami was also awarded the "Player-of-the-Match" for his 28-ball valiant effort against Sandeep Lamichhane & co. 

Earlier, Nepal lost its top three batsmen Ishan Pandey (4), captain Paras Khadka (18) and Aarif Sheikh (8) but Dipendra Singh Airee played a fine knock (33-ball 40) to resurrect the innings to an extent. 

Sundeep Jora (17), Binod Bhandari (11) and Sompal Kami (25) struck a few crucial big hits towards the end as the team posted a total of 132/6 in 20 overs.

Zimbabwe bowlers Sean Williams (2/19), Wellington Masakadza (1/19), Tendai Chatara (1/30), Neville Madziva (1/31) and Ryan Burl (1/19) bowled quite well. 

In the run-chase, it was Lamichhane who started off in a brilliant fashion for Nepal as he sent back Regis Chakabva, Tinotenda Mutombodzi, Sean Williams for ducks in a magnificent spell of 3/15. 

Zimbabwe also lost Brian Chari (19) and Timycen Maruma (12) cheaply either side of the trio and looked destined to go down on the day. But the more experienced team eventually came to the fore as Burl and Mutumbami led its wonderful fight back. 

Brief scores: 

Nepal 132/6 in 20 overs (Dipendra Singh Airee 40; Sean Williams 2/19) lost to Zimbabwe 133/5 in 18.1 overs ( Richmond Mutumbami 41; Sandeep Lamichhane 3/15) by five wickets.