NEWS
Follow UsThe US leg might have been challenging for batters of every team; however, Nepal captain Rohit Paudel insists that it is the case in the West Indies, too. Nepal played in Dallas, where they lost to the Netherlands by six wickets, while their game against Sri Lanka in Lauderhill got washed out.
Paudel, who scored a valiant 35 against the Dutch, feels that it is important to assess the conditions and play accordingly in the Caribbean too, given run-scoring will be challenging.
"In the American leg, I think most of the wickets were really challenging, especially talking about the drop-in wickets. Those wickets were really challenging and I think apart from the wicket, I think conditions were also very challenging, especially Dallas' condition. If you see that in USA, only 120-130 runs are made in an innings," Paudel said ahead of his side's clash against South Africa in St Vincent.
"So, I think the surface is challenging, but still, as a professional cricketer, you have to adapt to those situations and play accordingly, and I believe that in West Indies If you see those matches here also, scoring runs is really challenging. But still, as a unit, you must know how much score is good for the team. We'll go tomorrow and assess the wicket and play accordingly."
On June 13 (Thursday), we saw Bangladesh set the Netherlands a target of 160, which proved to be enough. Paudel believes that is what his team also will be aiming to get against the Proteas.
"I've seen the wicket when last time [practice matches] I came here in St. Vincent and today I watched the match against Netherlands and Bangladesh also. So, looking at the wicket, I think somewhere around 160 would be a good score," Paudel reckons.
"And after that as a spin it department I think now Sandy [Sandeep Lamichhane] is also in. So, I think if we make around 160, 170, and I believe that it would be a challenging score for South Africa, especially looking at these conditions. And I feel that it will be on slower side, wicket will be on slower side. So, we will plan accordingly."
Ahead of the T20 World Cup, Nepal played in St. Vincent, albeit at a different ground, where they played the Windward Islands. Does that give Nepal a slender advantage?
"It was really challenging playing against those club teams, assessing those conditions, and after that, again, we went to a different condition [USA] and wicket," the 21-year-old Nepal skipper said.
"So, I think as a unit, now we are professional cricketers, so we need to adapt those situations really quickly in the match only. So, I think as a unit we have learned that to assess those wickets and conditions and we'll try to implement the same here in St. Vincent."
Nepal's fate in the tournament depends on how they fare in their last two games — both incidentally in St Vincent. If they beat South Africa (June 14) and Bangladesh (June 16), they will progress to the Super Eights, regardless of how the other matches in Group D pan out.
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