World Cup qualifier match- Nepal’s first match with Zimbabwe
For next few days, Nepali cricket will have very special time. If Nepal do good, then Nepal will get one-day status and also will play World cup else Nepal will lose historical opportunity.
Nepal already appeared in world-cup qualifier four years back so it is not subject of history that Nepali cricket team achieved. But this time Nepal has golden opportunity to enter in the super six. For that dream, Nepal has to perform very super game.
Nepal playing its first game with Zimbabwe, who is already test player nation and also playing 9 world-cup in row. This is second face for Nepal with test playing nation, before this Nepal faced Bangladesh in T-20 word-cup.
March 4 2018 will be an important day for Nepal. If Nepal will stumble the Zimbabwe in their home ground, it will build string confident against rest of the teams.
Confident Nepali Team
Nepali teams are in the peak confident now after division II performance and victory against USE in practice match. In each match of the Division II, Nepal managed to grab the tough victory against strong teams. This is one of the reason that Nepali team have high confident. However, Nepal had lost the game against UAE in the final match. But after three days Nepal won the practice match against same team.
Batting – A strong point for Nepal
Nepali batting line forms the combination of senior experience batsman and junior energetic batsman. However, Nepali batting is one of the unforecastable things to notice. In the past few matches, Nepali reliable opener Gyanendra Malla could not do well to team, which is one of the headache for Nepali team. But at the same time we can expect some uncertain positive result from him. By saying this, he should come back in the well form in order to strengthen the whole game mentality for Nepali team.
On the other hand, captain Paras Khadka is doing well this time. He is in the good form. He is the person to collect highest number of Runs and SIXES in the Divison II. He scores century in the final game against UAE.
Sarad Veswakar, another pillar of Nepali batting line have been performing average in the last few games. He has been surrounded with middle level batsman. So, he has to last on the crease to boost the energetic middle batsman. Nepal is expecting something better from batsman Dipendra Sing Aire, who has performed well in the practice match against UAE.
Fast bowling – the weak part of Nepal
Fast bowling is always a subject of headache for Nepal. Paras sent Sompal Kami and Karan KC as striking fast bowler, but Karan could not do well. However, he batted super well against Canada. In spite of his magic batting, he is yet to be confirmed whether Lalit Bhandari or Karan to be in the team.
As a second, Sompal Kami is one of the key fast bowler of Nepal. But he performance is kind if fluctuating. Sometimes he is very expensive for Nepali team that he gives a lot of runs.
In the third, captain Paras is playing as fast bawler.
Hope with spinners
Nepali spinners are dominating the game since last few matches. Even though Zimbabwe pitch are fast bowling friendly, ICC claims that spin bowling might be strong factor in the match.
Basant Regmi and Sandeep lamichhane are two Nepali reliable spinners. Sandeep is already in the hot news after selecting in the IPL and Caribbean Premier League. Basant Regmi in the other hand is very experience and reliable player of Nepal.
In the back up side there is another experience spinner Shakti Gauchan, who game change the game anytime. However, he will be playing according to the pitch condition.
How strong is Zimbabwe?
Zimbabwe is of the strong cricket playing nation in the world. However, they are not being able to save their reputation from the last few years. Zimbabwe ranks in the 11th position among the test playing nation followed by Ireland.
Recently Zimbabwe played against another strong team Afghanistan with result of (1-4) where Zimbabwe swept out in the 33th over.
Brendan Tayler – Threaten for Nepal
Brendan Tayler, who is world class batsman played well against strong teams is worth noticing for Nepal. He might be explosive run maker. In last January he scored half century against Sri Lanka and scored 125 runs against Afghanistan. So he is in the well form.
He also has experience of world-cup 2015 where he scored 40, 46, 36, 50 and 121 runs followed by 138 run against India. So for Nepali spinners, he is the target hunting to take down as soon as possible.
By saying this, he is not only batsman who could be threat to Nepal, there are other best batsman on the queue including opener Hamilton Masakadza and Sikandar Raza. There are 5 centuries and 32 half century in the name of Mazakadza in ODI series. On the other side there are 3 centuries and 11 half century in the name of Pakistani origin all-rounder Sikandar.
On the bowling side Tendai Chatara is key bowler of Zimbabwe. There are 68 wickets in 50 ODI match in the name of Chatara. Another bowler captain Graeme Cremer have taken 109 wickets playing 90 ODI matches.
