Mixed results for Team Nepal in Australia

 

The men’s national cricket team of Nepal concluded a  productive and strategically important tour of  Australia recently.

As part of the preparations for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2026 Asia and East-Pacific Qualifiers, taking  place in Oman  from  October 8 to 17th, they competed in the  top notch fourth edition of  the Top End T20 series held in Darwin, Australia for the first time.

Hosts Oman, Nepal,Papua New Guinea,Kuwait, Malaysia,Kuwait,Qatar, Japan,Samoa and UAE are  in  the  fray for the crucial qualifiers.

The teams  have been divided into three groups.Nepal is in group 2 alongside Kuwait and Japan.

At stake are three spots for the final round of the ICC Men’s T39 World Cup 2026 to be jointly held by India and Sri Lanka.

The  two teams finishing first and second in their  respective groups advance to the Super  Six stage to battle out for the three  championship spots. 

Nepal hopes to qualify for the World Cup for the second straight time. So far they have made it to the final round on two occasions in 2014 and 2024(USA).

Considering the  Nepali outfit's performance in T20 in recent times they are touted as one of the favorites to qualify for the championship round.

They must go above and beyond  expectations to deliver the  result.For that they have to consistently raise their performance to the next level. 

Back to the Australian competition,eleven teams were in the race for the title. Each team played  six matches.

Nepal had to be content with mixed results .With four points they finished the championship  in eighth place.They won   two and  lost four matches. 

They were tied on points with Bangladesh and Hobart Hurricanes Academy, however,they surged ahead of them on a better net run rate.

Nepal  got off to a poor start, losing three straight games. They went down to the Northern Territory, Australia,Melbourne Stars Academy, Bangladesh A, and  Pakistan Shaheens. 

They bounced back with two consecutive victories over Hobart  Hurricanes Academy and Melbourne Renegades. They missed the opportunity  to make it three in a row as they lost to the Pakistan outfit by one run.

Nepal skippered by Rohit Kumar Paudel  consisted of  familiar  experienced and upcoming players who have been on the team’s roster for a while. Every player in the squad got a chance to showcase his talent.

By and large, it was a fairly good performance with the bowlers outshining the batters.

Experienced duo Sompal Kami  and Sandeep Lamichhane with nine and eight  wickets respectively once again proved their utility for the team.

Upcoming and talented Nandan Yadav  impressed with a solid performance. He picked up 8 wickets.

The batting was average and  could have been better in terms of consistency.Only three players Rohit Paudel(52 runs),Aasif Sheikh(53 runs) and Kushal Malla(59 runs)  scored half  centuries in six matches.

Unquestionably,the batting,which has been Nepal’s weakest link over the years, has to improve going forward in all formats of the game.

The batters have to  seriously commit themselves to work on all aspects of their batting,including skills to become better and consistent.

Undoubtedly,the competition provided players a valuable opportunity to gain experience,exposure  and  further hone their cricketing skills.Additionally, it helped them build  self-confidence and work on their  shortcomings.

As a matter of fact,high-quality international exposure on a regular basis is indispensable in order to help players improve their game and performance at the highest level of the game.

The upcoming three match Twenty20 international series against  the West Indies,taking place next month  in Sharjah,United Arab Emirates  is highly productive and beneficial to  players purely  from a competitive standpoint. 

Against the formidable opposition,it  provides players another opportunity to make changes and improvements  in their game. They must  make the most out of the series to benefit fully.

Apart from that Nepal cricket is still in need of meaningful changes, a highly competitive and professional domestic league ,quality infrastructure and training facilities, international standard pitches and solid grass roots level cricket to  sustain and thrive.

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN)  deserves credit for arranging the Australian tour and the upcoming series against the West Indies.That said, much remains to be  done for the overall  systematic and robust development of cricket in the country .