In their first major tournament in more than two years, Nepal are taking on Test playing giants Pakistan in the ACC Women’s Asia Cup at the Terdthai Cricket Ground in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday.

Nepal coach Basnyat had left for Thailand targetting an upset victory against any of the two teams between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as India and Pakistan are tagged title contenders. But Basnyat’s girls’ had gone on to lose their warm-up game against Thailand by 19 runs.

Asia Cup is the biggest event Nepali women get to participate in and against a strong Pakistani side that claimed back-to-back gold medals in the Asian Games cricket, Nepal have set very low target. Nepal coach Raju Basnyat wants his girls to forget about the might of the opponents and give their best. 

“We don’t have any plans against Pakistan but our Thursday’s warm-up game against Thailand has helped us to organise ourselves in terms of playing conditions. Pakistan are better opponents in both the bowling and batting department. We just need to make sure that we get our basics right,” said Basnyat on the eve of the match.

Nepal got the opportunity to compete in Asia Cup after finishing second in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifying Series for Asia Region held in Hong Kong in October. The opportunity has also lined them up against other Test nations India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh along with Thailand. India will meet Bangladesh in the other match on Saturday.

Nepal had previously played the 2012 Asia Cup that was held in China where Pakistan had lost the final match to archrivals Pakistan. Nepal had lost to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and China then. Nepal are meeting Pakistan for the first time in an official tournament having lost to them twice - by 83 and 116 runs - in  practice matches ahead of the 2011 ACC Women’s Championship.

Basnyat would want his side to prove themselves as better opponents this 

time around. On a slow track at the Terdthai grounds, Basnyat is opting to go with three spinners.