Nepal defeated Canada by seven wickets to register their second straight victory in the ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division-2 at the Wanderers in Windhoek, Namibia today to remain in the hunt for the promotion to upper level.

Rookie seamer Karan KC grabbed five-wicket haul in his only third international match as Nepal bowled out Canada for 114 in 49.2 overs before racing to 115-3 in just 23.1 over, riding on half century from skipper Paras Khadka.

Nepal — who struggled hard to reach the target despite dismissing favourites Netherlands to 158 on Sunday, a day after failing to get 147 against Uganda — came into early trouble after losing openers Naresh Budhayer and Subash Khakurel with no run on the board. Khadka and his deputy Gyanendra Malla added 114 runs for the third wicket to lead the team to comfortable victory.

Man-of-the-match Khadka, who struck a total of 11 fours and three sixes in his 87-ball 77, was out after hitting three straight boundaries off Satsimranjit Dhindsa, who earlier jolted Nepal’s innings with two wickets in two balls, with scores level. Malla remained unbeaten on 32 off 51 balls hitting five fours, while Binod Bhandari completed the formality hitting the winning run.

Earlier, KC set the tone for Nepal reducing Kenya to 22-5 after fellow medium pacer Sompal Kami had claimed the first wicket. Nepali bowlers did not allow the Canadians to set at the crease to build partnerships and struck at regular intervals before dismissing them for 114 runs. Dhindsa was the top scorer for Canada with an unbeaten 25 off 37, while skipper Jimmy Hansra made 22. KC returned with the figures of 5-26, while Kami took 2-28 and Khadka, Shakti Gauchan and Sagar Pun had one scalp each.

Nepal also climbed up one spot to second in the standings with four points, only two points behind host and leader Namibia, which has maintained a cent percent winning streak.

Earlier, Nepal defeated the Netherlands by two wickets on Sunday after losing to Uganda by two runs on Saturday.

Although Nepali batsmen struggled against Uganda and the Netherlands, they put up a confident show against Canada on Tuesday despite a shaky start.