Poor batting continues to hinder Nepal’s progress

 

Nepal’s  performance in the recently concluded men’s ICC World Cup Twenty20 cricket championship jointly hosted by the West Indies and the United States fell short of  everyone's expectations.

Playing only in their second World Cup,the youngest outfit in the tournament failed to deliver the desired results.Given the team’s vast potential,everybody expected a much better performance from the young  lads.

More importantly,they had the opportunity to prove themselves and galvanize the cricketing world on the game’s biggest platform.They sure did miss the chance.

Contrary to high expectations,they  were far from impressive, especially in the batting department.They put in an average performance and were unable to rise to the occasion.

In  other words,they faltered and failed to do justice to their talent,making a hash  of the chance.

They wound up the championship winless, losing all the three matches in the group stage to exit the competition.

Nepal  needed a winning start in the opener against the Netherlands.As a matter of fact ,the match was delicately poised and wide open.

For the Rhinos it was like playing at home in Texas  with  their vociferous supporters outnumbering the opposition supporters.

However, they failed to make hay of the favorable situation. Once again inept batting and poor fielding attributed to their downfall at the end of the day much to  the chagrin of their supporters. 

Skipper Rohit Paudel (35) was the sole batter who showed some resistance against the  opponent’s tidy  and tight bowling.

On the other hand, the bowlers,by contrast, lived up to expectations and did their job despite defending a paltry total of 106. They made the rival fight for every run,pushing them to the 18th over before conceding the match.

Nepal and their  supporters had to live with disappointment as their second match against Sri Lanka was washed out without a  ball bowled.

The highlight of Nepal’s World Cup was their performance against runners up South Africa played in the West Indies.

The fixture turned out to be a tale of so close yet so far for Head  Coach Monty Desai boys. They came tantalizingly close to  registering a sensational and stunning victory over the fancied opposition.

It was heartbreak for them as they agonizingly lost by a single run. Clearly it was a missed opportunity to record  their biggest ever victory over a Test playing nation to date.

The duo of Kushal  Bhurtel and Dipendra Singh Airee with 4 and 3 wickets respectively  ripped through the South African innings and reduced them to a meager total of 115 for 7.

Despite chasing the modest gettable target,the batters stumbled and failed to register  the biggest upset of the tournament. Apart from Aasif Sheikh(42) and Anil Sah (27),the rest of the batting caved in meekly. Indeed, a listless batting effort cost them the match. 

Ace spinner Sandeep Lamichhane played his first match in the competition. Although he went wicketless,he was impressive.

Batting woes  continued for Nepal against Bangladesh in their final group match bringing more agony and misery.

The  bowlers put in an outstanding performance to bundle out the opposition for a mere 106 runs giving their team a winnable target to chase.The bowling quartet of Sandeep Lamichhane (2), Sompal Kami(2), Rohit Paudel(2) and  Airee (2) efforts,however, went in vain as  the batting crumbled to 85,resulting in another defeat.

The team’s poor batting  performance was on full display with only  all rounder Airee(25),Kushal Malla(27) and Aasif Sheik(17) reaching double digits.

Unequivocally Nepal squandered two glorious chances to prevail over South Africa and Bangladesh to script history solely  because of poor batting.

Evidently Nepal’s progress is being hampered by  consistent batting debacles   over the years. 

Long as the batting issue persists there will be no end to frustration, disappointment and heartbreaks.

The Cricket Association of Nepal(CAN) must be  totally focused on improving the batting performance of the team in both short and long term .They have to find ways to help batters  improve their batting skills and techniques to desired level.

There is a need to improve  and upgrade the standard of pitches in domestic  cricket to  help both batters and bowlers enhance their performance.

Besides, young players require  international exposure against quality opponents on a regular basis.

Keeping in mind the  batting struggles, it is not an overstatement to say that there is a clear lack of talent coming through the existing system.

This is the result of a lack of proper structure  and planning on the  part of the cricket body.