KATHMANDU, Nov 8: National cricket team coach Pubudu Dassanayake said that the Nepali team for the upcoming ACC Twenty20 Cup will feature a blend of young and senior players.
Dassanayake made the comment at Nepali U-25 team´s arrival in Kathmandu from Maldives after participating in the SAARC U-25 Twenty20 Cricket Tournament.
“We were exposed to certain things in Maldives. Handling pressure under quality bowling and batting is a mjor concern. I want to improve team in the area we failed and hope senior and experience boys will fulfil those area,” said Dassanayake.
Meanwhile, Dassanayake applauded the performance of the U-25 team in Maldives. “I´m not worried about results. We have a plan for improvement and I´m happy to see boys playing against quality team from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and India,” said Dassanayake. “From the match experience against quality teams, we can do better in the ACC Twenty20,” he added.
He claimed that players gained confidence after winning the match against the Indian team (Karnataka Institute of Cricket) in the tournament.
Nepal had chased 219-run target against KIC as Captain Paras Khadka and Vice Captain Gyanendra Malla combined to score 114 runs in the last 5.3 overs to win the match. Nepali batsmen had adopted unorthodox shots to win the match and it was a rare feature of Nepali batsmen in the past.
“The credit should be given to the coach for our batting success. We are slowly adapting T20 mode of the cricket. We have gained confidence that if we keep our attitude right we can chase big targets,” said Captain Khadka. “However, Consistancy is important,” he added.
Khadka said that the tournament was great opportunity for the team before the ACC Twenty20 Cup as they got opportunity to play against quality teams.
“I´m satisfied with the performance as we didn´t know the tournament was there while we were starting training sessions. With limited preparation we performed well against quality teams,” he said.
“We were playing on the astro-turf pitch in a small ground and it made bowling tough,” he added.
However, he vowed to carry the confidence and attitude gained from the tournament on to the ACC Twenty20 Cup.
