This team has great potential, we'll do well in next World Cup: Paudel

It was another game where the Nepal bowlers did a fantastic job, but their batters let them down. A few days ago, it was against South Africa, and on June 16 (Sunday), it was against Bangladesh. Chasing 107, Nepal lost their way in the powerplay, losing four wickets, which skipper Rohit Paudel says put them under pressure.

"Bangladesh bowled really well with the new ball. Losing 4 wickets in the powerplay put us under a lot of pressure. They were always challenging us, and they bowled really well in the powerplay," Paudel said at the post-match presentation. 

"As a batting unit we need to step up, we need to know where to score runs and how to assess conditions. We're up to the mark with our bowling and fielding."

Paudel has also vowed to put up a better show in the next World Cup, which will be played in India and Sri Lanka in 2026. Nepal will have to go through the Asia Qualifiers to assure themselves of a place at the marquee event, as they did this time.

"This team has great potential. We need to back each and every player. I feel we will do very well in the next World Cup. We have disappointed our fans, we could have won few matches, feel for them. We will try to make them happy in the coming years," he said.

His counterpart Najmul Hossain Shanto hopes that his side's bowling form continues.  "Hope we will continue our bowling performance, not our batting," he said. 

"We are not scoring much, but we believed that we could defend. The way we've bowled, we knew we could take wickets and defend. The fielders have also been good. We have everything, all the fast bowlers have worked really hard. That's why we've played some good cricket."

Player of the Match Tanzim Hasan Sakib, who finished with 4/7, including 21 dot balls, said the idea was to keep things as simple as possible.

"We just wanted to keep things simple. Not panic and bowl in good areas. We were very confident of defending this total," he said. 

"Everyone bowled well. Mustafizur bowled a wicket maiden under pressure at the death. I just wanted to execute my plans and that’s what I was focused on. We’re really excited to play in the Super Eights, we are very confident as well."

Bangladesh have assured themselves of a place in the Super Eights with this win over Nepal. They will take on Australia in their first game of the next round on June 20 (Thursday) in Antigua.

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