Nepal must rise to the challenge against West Indies

In a must win situation Nepal carved out a convincing six wickets victory over the United States in the ICC World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe.

Chasing a  modest total of 208, Nepal overcame early  batting jitters to close the deal comfortably in 43 overs.

Coming at number three Bhim Sarki batted brilliantly for his  unbeaten 77 and carried his bat till the end, ensuring  the much needed victory for the  team.

He  was focused, applied himself and batted with confidence. He timed the ball  beautifully and punished loose and bad balls whenever opportunities arose.

He shared two crucial partnerships. First  with  Kushal  Bhurtel who contributed a useful 39 runs. Later he teamed up with all rounder Dipendra Singh Airee  to guide Nepal to victory.

Airee put in  a stellar   performance by  scoring  an unbeaten 39 runs and picking up 2 wickets.

The bowlers bounced back after a somewhat subdued performance in the opening match. Despite the absence of frontline bowler Sompal Kami,pacers duo Karan KC and  Gulshan Jha did the job in style.

They were on fire and shared 7 wickets between them.Making the most of the bouncy pitch, they ran-riot through  the US batters. The  pace and accuracy just proved too much for them.

 

KC’s excellent bowling and four wicket haul had the opponent struggling for runs.He was ably supported by Jha. The youngster consistently bowled well and claimed 3 wickets.

However, the bowlers failed to wrap up the tail in a timely manner allowing the US batters to post a decent total of 207 runs  from a disastrous 94/6.

The spinners had another disappointing match as they went wicketless. It was no different for star googly maestro Sandeep Lamichanne.For  the second match in a row wickets did not come his way.

Front and center was  US  batter Shayan Jahangir.He single handedly  defied the hostile bowling with gutsy and confident  batting to crack a   well made 100  and  give his team a glimmer of hope. 

With one win and a defeat, Nepal  is still in the Super Six race. Their last two  remaining matches in the group  are  against two formidable opponents West Indies and the Netherlands.

First they clash  against the heavy  favorites West Indies on Thursday.Team  Nepal will have to be at the top of their game, be it bowling or batting or fielding.

The batters will have to deal with the opponent’s fiery pace attack.The  have to be at their best to counter the Windies attack.

For that  they  will require a solid, determined, composed, confident,disciplined, intelligent, courageous and technically sound batting performance.

Batters must be able to work out partnerships as it is vital  for building a winning total.They have to step up  and  rise to the occasion to meet the challenge. It is important for every specialist batter to make a meaningful contribution.

The  performance  of bowlers has  a significant  impact on the outcome of the match.Consistency is key to bowling success. 

The bowlers will  have to execute the game plan effectively. Since the spinners are getting nothing out of the pitch, the burden of delivering the goods rests upon the pace attack.Understandably they will be hard pushed to perform well.

Considering the batting strength of the opposition,it  is essential  for pacers to maintain a consistent line and length.

The fielding must be a notch above. Team Nepal must carry the momentum gained from the moral boosting  win against the United States into the West Indies match.