Nepal will savour the opportunity to play against some of the best sides of the world when they begin their ACC U-19 Asia Cup campaign against India at the Krira Shikkha Protisthan in Dhaka on Saturday.

Although Nepal had broken their 17-year long losing streak to India with the 19-run win over the Test-giants in the previous edition in Malaysia last year, they will still go into the tournament as title contenders. Nepal had succumbed to both the India ‘A’ and India ‘B’ teams in a Quadrangular U-19 One Day Series in Lucknow two weeks earlier. Nepali coach Binod Das guided Nepal to that historic victory in Malaysia but he wants to leave the feat behind and start afresh considering the dismal showing in Lucknow.

“We have an opportunity to play against the best team in the world at U-19 level. So we would try to put on the best effort regardless of the opponents,” Das said from Dhaka. With defending champions Afghanistan and United Arab Emirates (UAE) up next, Nepal would take the match as a platform to prepare for next games in their bid to reach the semi-finals.

Das had led Nepal to their first ever U-19 Asia Cup semi-finals last year and knows his side is close again to repeat that feat. “There is no doubt that India are among the best teams and having played against them recently, we all know where we stand against them,” added the coach.

“It’s going to be tough but not impossible. We are expecting an improved performance. We have trained hard and tried to get better, especially in batting. If we can bat the way we did in our practice games, we will be able to compete well against them,” Das said.

Nepal made four changes to the squad that competed in the Quadrangular Series with national team’s emerging talent Rohit Kumar Paudel being the key one. Paudel was released from the national squad to join the U-19 team. Nandan Yadav, Surya Tamang and Rabindra Jung Shahi were called-up to replace Kishor Mahato, Lokesh Bam and Bipin Rawal.

A major concern for Nepal once again will be their batting department, particularly the opening pair, which didn’t fare well against Indian teams and Afghanistan in Lucknow. Skipper Aasif Sheikh, Ravi Shah, Trit Raj Das, Rit Gautam and Arun Airee were tried for the opening slot but the team hardly got the desired start.

Shiekh’s batting will be under scrutiny after he frequently failed in multiple tournaments since posing himself as the ‘next generation’ star with a century in a domestic Twenty20 tournament in Kathmandu. He is yet to score a half century after he made the ton in October, 2016.

Kamal Singh Airee and Rashid Khan will be prime pick among the fast bowlers, while Sagar Dhakal, Pawan Sarraf appears set to lead the spin department. With openers not managing to give big start, Nepal’s batting order will once again rely on the middle order beginning with Sandeep Zora and followed by Bhim Sharki, Paudel and Sarraf.