By a Staff Reporter
Nepal National Cricket team is playing against home side Scotland in the ICC World Cup League 2 Tri-Series in Titwood Cricket Ground today. The match will begin at 3:15 pm NST in Glasgow.
Scotland, who are currently second in the competition points table are aiming for a second consecutive win. Meanwhile Nepal will be targeting its first victory after suffering a 40 run defeat against Namibia. Namibia lost its first match to Scotland by 77 runs.
Scotland are considered to be one of the strongest teams in the World Cup League 2. It is the team with least loss with only 5 games lost as of now. With the advantage of the home ground and favorable conditions Scots are expecting easy win over Nepal.
Nepal, on the other hand, has to bat well if they wish for the victory against the home side. But Nepal’s batting woes have cost the team dear. Nepal lost the first match to Namibia due to poor batting. Nepal expects excellent performance from batsmen like Rohit Poudel, Dipendra Singh Airee, Kushal Bhurtel, Asif Sheikh but these batsmen are not being able to meet the expectation.
Rohit was run out for zero against Namibia while Dipendra was out for 4 runs. Dipendra is continuously failing to perform in ODI. Arif Sheikh played an innings of 50 runs from one end.
Openers Kushal Bhurtel and Asif Sheikh should give a great start to the innings as the beginning makes a big difference in overall team performance. Dev Khanal should obtain runs focusing on strike rate. Excessive dot balls from opponents may increase the pressure. Without the top class performance of Dipendra and Rohit Nepal can’t mark a huge margin. Both of them are major batsmen of the team.
Nepal is unlikely to make any changes in the team for today’s match. Both Sandeep and Basir are likely to get continuity in the spinner. With the past performances Nepal is unlikely to beat Scotland. Nepal must uplift its performance.
Both the batting and bowling of Scotland are extraordinary. Scotland has experienced players in batting. Associate star batsmen such as skipper Kyle Coetzer, Matthew Cross, Calum MacLeod, Richie Berrington and George Munsey have made the home team strong.
Scotland have been fielding two spinners Mark Watt and Hamza Tahir and both of them have consistently performed well lately. The right arm medium fast bowler Shafyaan Sharif is a key bowling weapon of Scotland. Sharif who is admired as one of the best fast bowlers in associate cricket has taken 80 wickets in his 56 ODI matches.
Sharif who took five wickets against Namibia could be menacing against Nepal. He will be accompanied by Gavin Main from the other end. Main has also taken 18 wickets in his last 9 matches. This is the first time that Nepal is competing against Scotland in ODIs.
In the competition points table, Nepal stands sixth with 15 points with 17 wins and 9 losses in 17 games. Scotland are second with 30 points from 21 games with 14 wins and 5 losses.
Nepali Team:
Sandip Lamichhane (Captain), Rohit Paudel (Vice-Captain), Asif Sheikh (Wicket Keeper), Kushal Bhurtel, Dev Khanal, Dipendra Singh Aire, Aarif Sheikh, Karan KC, Sompal Kami, Adil Ansari, Basir Ahamed, Kishore Mahato, Pawan Sharaf and Binod Bhandari (Wicket Keeper).
Nepal’s fixture for Scotland Tour:
July 13 – Scotland VS Nepal
July 16 – Nepal VS Namibia
July 17 – Nepal VS Scotland
