Cricnepal/Kathmandu – Nepal returned home on friday after participating in ACC Emerging Teams Cup losing against Afghanistan, India U-23 & Pakistan U-23.
“This was a great exposure for the National Team playing against Under 23 players from test playing nations. Neither the team’s Moral is down nor I am panic at the moment. We learned and played according to our potential”, said Nepali Cricket coach Pubudu Dassanayake.
Nepalese team lost their first outing against Arch Rival Afghanistan by margin of 3 runs while they were outplayed against India U-23 & Pakistan U-23 by 84 runs & 9 wickets respectively in the group matches.
“We could have easily won the match against Afghanistan but our batters presented themselves nervously. They have seen these kind of situation in previous encounters. We can play full overs and chase the target but the problem is we are not clean finishers regularly”, he added.
Before the tournament, Nepal went to Sri Lanka to play practice matches against Sri Lanka U-23 team and lost the four matches against them and wrapped up the tour with a consolation win against North East Province.
Nepal will play ICC World Twenty 20 Qualifiers from November 12 in Dubai. Similarly, they will play for One Day Qualifiers at the start of 2014.
“We have a busy schedule coming up therefore Physical Fitness is the first priority, Net session, the second & Match Practice the last. We have had some issue with the fitness during ACC Emerging Teams Cup. Paras Khadka is not fully fit, he is still recovering from the shoulder injury. He didn’t bowl his full quota of overs in the tournament. Gyanendra Malla has recovered from Knee injury. Batting Allrounder- Pradip Airee hasn’t recovered from Ankle injury since last three month. He may take some time to recover”, Dassanayake said.
“The other issue for the current team is the Bowling attack. Avinash Karn bowled well in Singapore but we lack Pace bowling and that remains our main weak point. We still need some improvement in Spin bowling”, Dassanayake said.
Dassanayake joined Nepali Cricket team in 2011 and since then Nepal had won ICC World Cricket League Division 4 and 3. Nepal were joint winner with UAE in ACC Trophy Elite 2012 and finalist in ACC Twenty20 Cup 2013 held in Kathmandu. They will be playing World Cup Qualifier next.
