KATHMANDU: NPC captain Binod Das said their win against APF was a sweet revenge to the loss they had suffered in the One-day National. Das further said that he was under immense pressure as many criticized his team after the defeat which was a blow to the spirit of team building.
“I had expected this team to perform better in the T20 than in the One-day and the win has raised my faith on the team. We can expect more from the players like Pradeep Aire and Naresh Budhayer in future,” said Das.
“We had planned to field first and to start the innings with a spinner after winning the toss. APF players play the medium pace bowlers well so I gave Bhuwan Karki first over and he bowled well. Chandra Saud and I bowled well later which paved the way for our victory,” he said.
“This is not my comeback innings but I have to do well in upcoming tournaments. After the last year´s tournament I was not able to perform well. There was a lot of pressure on me and I was not able to take wicket in the One-day,” said the skipper.
“APF tried to play well but it seemed they were out there to bat without any planning. The wicket was not easy to play and we performed well,” he said.
APF captain Paras Khadka said that players could not perform well on the ´dead pitch´. “As a cricketer I had never ever faced the 20 for 7 situation. I still can´t believe that we were in that situation. This is the worst ever batting performance my team has put up.”
“Despite all this we were able to score 85 runs and we nearly defended the target. If we had utilized the run out chances we could have won the match,” said Khadka. “Our opponent´s were better in their bowling and fielding department and our batsmen, including me, played weak shots.”
Khadka also denied that they were overconfident after the win in the One-day national tournament. He further added that the team that plays well wins the match.
“When we played in the One-day the wicket was good and we were able to chase the 217 target but today´s wicket was worse. It is difficult to score runs in this pitch. Had NPC batted first they too would have faced hard time to amass runs.”
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