February 8: A four-wicket haul by Captain Rohit Kumar Poudel helped the national cricket team of Nepal defeat Canada by seven runs in the first ODI match between the two countries held at the Tribhuvan University (TU) Cricket Ground on Thursday.    
Invited to bat first after losing the toss, Nepal gave a moderate target of 225 runs to Canada, which the visitors fell short to achieve by just seven runs as they were restricted to 217 runs. Canada managed 217 runs losing all wickets in 47.5 overs.    
Nicolas Kirtan scored 68 runs for Canada while Pragat Singh and Harsha Thakar contributed 50 runs and 32 runs, respectively.    
For Nepal's victory, captain Paudel alone took four wickets of Canada while Lalit Rajbanshi took two wickets. With the win, Nepal leads the the One Day International (ODI) Cricket Series against Canada 1-0.
Earlier, Nepal's Kushal Bhurtel contributed the highest 62 runs with nine fours and one six.    
Nepal is playing a three-match ODI series against Canada ahead of the upcoming ICC Cricket League-2 to be played between Namibia and the Netherlands.    
The second match between Nepal and Canada is scheduled for February 10. -- RSS