The men’s national cricket team of Nepal got off to a disappointing losing start going down to Canada in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 in Canada.
Canada put up an impressive performance to outplay the opposition by a convincing 103 runs.
They batted and bowled well to dominate the fixture which almost turned out to be a one-sided contest.
It was a crucial match for Nepal which they couldn’t afford to lose in order to consolidate and improve their position in the table standings.
The setback was a slap on the face for the team. Their World Cup contention chances have now become more challenging and daunting.
Nepal elected to bowl first after winning the toss. The decision seemed to have paid off as the bowlers tied down the batters with sensible and tight bowling till the 35 overs restricting the opponent to 133 for 5.
And then after that, the bowlers’ effort to contain the batters went haywire especially against skipper Nicholas Kirton who batted aggressively and convincingly to ensure his team a winning total of 253 for 8 in the allocated 50 overs.
He was in dominating form and remained undefeated on 73 with the help of 3 fours and 6 sixes. Spinner Lalit Rajbhansi and pacer Sompal Kami were the pick of the bowlers with 2 wickets each.
Rajbhansi bowled well, maintaining tight line and accuracy throughout his 9 overs. He was the most impressive bowler by far.
Star leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane scalped a wicket in nine overs but lost some of his sting in the later overs to give away an unusually high number of runs.
Skipper Rohit Paudel used eight bowlers, including himself but to no avail. The fielding was fairly good but there is still room for improvement.
Nepal faced a competitive total in the run chase. They needed solid and disciplined batting, coupled with a good opening stand to overcome the challenge.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Instead another batting collapse unfolded which ultimately contributed to the loss.
What we witnessed was a depleted Nepali batting unit. The batters failed miserably and were dismissed cheaply.
The team’s inability to bat full 50 overs is a clear reflection on the team’s disastrous batting performance. They were bundled out for a paltry 150 runs in 40.1 overs.
None of the top order batters were able to dig deep ,make an impression and anchor the innings. Amongst the batting specialists only wicketkeeper Asif Sheikh, Bhim Sharki and Kushal Malla reached double digits.
The batting can be termed atrocious and inept. Had it not been the tailenders handy contributions, the total could not have crossed the century mark.
Speedster Karan KC topped the scoring with 27 runs. Likewise, Lamichhane and pacer Gulshan Jha contributed 22 and 15 runs respectively
There is absolutely no excuse for the batters’ mediocre performance. The majority of them have been with the national team for a good number of years.
They have the experience, no doubt. However, they are yet to show improvement in their batting.
They cannot continue to underperform and let the team down. They must learn from mistakes, work tirelessly on their shortcomings and come out to become better and reliable batters .
All-rounder Dilon Heyliger, right arm medium pacer was the tormentor for Nepal. He tore apart the innings taking five wickets in 10 overs .
Nepal must put the defeat behind and come back fully recharged against Oman on Thursday.
Although they are favorites against Oman, they will have to be at their very best when it comes to batting and bowling to script a convincing win and avoid an embarrassing defeat.