Weak batting bogs down Team Nepal

The men’s national cricket team of Nepal returned to action amidst high expectations last month.

The team had a hectic schedule as they participated in three  tournaments consecutively in a little over a month. 

Since Nepal hosted the tournaments cricket  buffs across the country had  a heightened air of  expectancy.

Nepal’s recent success on home turf had local fans optimistic about their  team’s chances.

The ICC Men’s Cricket  World  Cup  League 2024/27 and T20 International Triangular series featuring Nepal,the Netherlands and Namibia  were the bigger and important tournaments.

The  two unofficial one day international series against Canada provided  a perfect platform to emerging  players knocking on the selectors door. 

For the second one day series against Canada, Cricket Association of Nepal fielded Nepal A,comprising experienced players and rising stars who have been performing consistently in domestic  and international competitions.

The team was skippered by experienced right-handed batter  and wicket keeper Binod Bhandari

Taking the opportunity,Head coach Monty Desai rightly included a host of newcomers in the squad for the  Canada series .

Although  a handful of regulars were rested in the first series against Canada , it served as a tune-up for the team prior to the  triangular series against the Netherlands and Namibia.

Team Nepal dominated the first  three -match one day series  by whitewashing Canada.

It was competitive and entertaining.The   home team dominated  both batting and bowling to win the series in a convincing manner.

In the first match  Anil  Kumar Sah and Bhim Sarki batted brilliantly,hitting centuries and remained unbeaten on 112 and 102 respectively.

  

Sah maintained his form by cracking 50 in the second match.Skipper Rohit Paudel and  Dev Khanal,skipper of the  men’s under-19 national team played  useful knocks of 87 and 76  respectively.

Explosive batter Kushal Bhurtel with 62 runs was the top scorer in the third match.

It was encouraging  to see budding  cricketers Hemant  Dhami,Aakash Chand,Surya Tamang and Rijan Dhakal make their one day debut in the series.

Canada bounced back to win the second one day series 2-1 against Nepal  A.Inconsistent  and fragile batting contributed to Nepal’s series loss.

Given Nepal’s  recent sensational  winning performances on their home ground,they enjoyed a competitive  edge over the Netherlands  and Namibia in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2.

With  8 points at stake, they had a great chance to grab maximum points.However, one big question in everyone’s mind was,will they be able to sustain the competitive advantage?

As it transpired, the answer was no,much to our chagrin.They were a  pale shadow of its former self,especially the batting department.

Contrary to expectations,they ended up winning one and losing 3 matches. Once more inept batting led to Nepal’s  debacle.

The  only time the batting came alive was against the Netherlands in the second match which they won by nine wickets. 

After bowling out the opposition for 137 runs, they reached the winning target in just 15.3 overs for the loss of a solitary wicket.

Nepal’s batting was well below average in the three matches and were unable  to cross the 200 mark.They couldn't bat full 50 overs and were cheaply dismissed for a total of 132,168 and 172.

By and large, the top-order batters were inconsistent,failed to steady the innings  with big partnerships and deliver under pressure.

They lacked focus,application, commitment, match temperament and correct technique.

Unquestionably they should have done a much better job.The batting failure is a significant  deterrent to the team’s progress.

It’s imperative that they show maturity,consistency and improvement in their batting  to gain ground in international competitions.

 

Evidently batting continues to be Nepal's biggest weakness.They have to find ways to  improve and consolidate the batting. 

Comparatively the bowlers  have been  consistently living up to their expectations and delivering the goods.

The batting  failure has put them  under constant pressure.That said,there is still plenty of room for improvement.

There was further disappointment for Team Nepal as they lost to the Netherlands in the final of the Twenty20 International Triangular.

They did bounce back after two successive wins but failed to ride the momentum in the final.

As I write, Team Nepal suffered another embarrassing defeat at the hands of  Papua New Guinea in the final of the Triangular Twenty20 International series in Hongkong .

In another disastrous batting performance they could only manage a paltry 85 runs in 16.3 overs,

Nepal  had prevailed over the  same opponent  handily in the first meeting. Also that was the only time they batted with some degree of authority in the competition. 

In the opener  against  Hongkong,Nepal paid dearly for the mediocre  batting . Chasing a score of 212, their innings  folded at  139  in 16.4 overs .

It is crystal clear that Team Nepal must turn around its batting performance  to become  competitive and stand a chance  in the upcoming  ACC Men’s  Premier Cup and ICC Men’sT20 World Cup.  

Otherwise,the weak batting will continue to obstruct them from getting the desired results.