Sports
Nepal pin hopes on top order
Nepal pin hopes on their top order when they take on New Zealand in their opening Group ‘D’ encounter of the ICC U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh on Thursday.Nepal pin hopes on their top order when they take on New Zealand in their opening Group ‘D’ encounter of the ICC U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh on Thursday.
In a group that also includes Test-giants India and Ireland, the match in Fatullah will all but determine Nepal’s fate in the tournament. Having beaten Ireland twice in the U-19 World Cup Qualifiers in October last year, Nepal will be hoping for a shock result on Thursday to fancy their chances of making it to the second round. But to materialise their target, Nepal need their batting order, particularly the openers, to put on a stand that could lay the foundation of a big total.
New Zealand have not been able to settle in the subcontinent conditions, making 204-8 against Sri Lanka and 212 all out against Afghanistan in their two official warm-up games ahead of the World Cup. And against the stumbling Kiwis, Nepal would like to make full use of their spinners to gain an upper hand.
But more than focusing on the result, coach Jagat Tamatta said Wednesday’s game was going to be an important one. “New Zealand match is going to be very important for us because the outcome will determine our fate in the tournament. We have to come up with our best,” said Tamatta.
New Zealand have some quality spinners and this is where Tamatta wants his batsmen to be wary of. “We watched New Zealand play against Sri Lanka. They have some quality spinners, who will have big impact on our batsmen. We need to play cautiously against them,” said Tamatta adding a 200 plus score would be a fighting total against the junior Black Caps.
“If we manage to score above 200 or restrict them below 200, the match will be on,” said Tamatta. “But for that to happen, our top order has to bat really well. We have worked very hard and we are not going to give up so easily,” added Tamatta, who will become the first home-grown coach to guide Nepal in an U-19 World Cup game.
But from a batting lineup which has not reached 200 runs in their last four competitive games, it could be a big ask for Nepal who made 149 and 171 against Afghanistan in two practice matches in Delhi. They were also folded for the scores of 181 and 165 against Pakistan and Sri Lanka respectively.
The pressure will be on Nepal’s opening batsmen who have not yielded big partnership. In the last four games, Nepal’s best opening wicket partnership was 48 (against Afghanistan) with Sunil Dhamala and Sandeep Sunar leading the batting charge. Tamatta had also tried the left hand-right hand combination of Ishan Pandey and Dhamala but it has failed to bear fruit.
Sunar is expected to open the innings with Dhamala, while Yogendra Karki will
bat at No 3 Skipper Raju Rijal and Aarif Sheikh, the most consistent batsmen in the build up to tournament, have their places cemented at the middle order. There will be a selection dilemma for No 4 position. Either Shankar Rana or Rajbir Singh will take that spot.
Allrounder Dipendra Airee, medium pacer Dipesh Shrestha, spinners Suhsil Kandel, Prem Tamang and Sandeep Lamichhane are going to be unanimous pick. In the only meeting between the two sides, Nepal had defeated New Zealand by one wicket in 2006 Plate Final.