The Sharjah Cricket Stadium will make another history by hosting Nepalese cricket for a three-match Twenty20 international series against the West Indies from Saturday.
Sharjahan Cricket Stadium in Sharjahan, UAE has hosted the most 255 matches in One Day International Cricket. This ground in Sharjah will make another history by hosting Nepali cricket for three Twenty20 international series against West Indies from Saturday.
Nepal has not played in Sharjah cricket stadium before. However, when Nepal captain Rohit Paudel and West Indies counterpart Akel Hussain go for the toss, the Sharjah Cricket Ground will become a witness to Nepali cricket. Sharjah Cricket Ground will have the privilege of hosting the first ever Twenty20 international series against Nepal.
The organizer of this series named Unity Cup is Nepal Cricket Association (CAN). As there is a large number of Nepalis in the UAE, Cane expects a good audience. That's why coach Stuart Law says through Can's social network, "I am hoping that the Nepalis living in the UAE will come and support their team."
New and strong Caribbean team
Nepal has already played one day international against West Indies. He is going to play for the first time in Twenty20 International. West Indies have made a big change in the team to play against Nepal. Regular captain Sai Hope and coach Darren Sammy will not be in the West Indies squad. Devrehate spinner Hussain is captaining the 15-member West Indies team, which has five 'uncapped' players. He is going to lead the West Indies for the first time.
Ryan Griffiths has taken over as West Indies coach. He was Floyd Reefer's assistant when West Indies 'A' came to Nepal to play a five-match Twenty20 series in April last year. So Griffith is very knowledgeable about Nepalese cricket. Former West Indies veteran coach Otis Gibson is the current West Indies team's fast bowling consultant.
Top-order batsman Akeem Auguste, batting all-rounder Naveen Bidaisi, leg-spinner Jisan Motara, Devrehate fast bowler Ramon Simmonds and wicketkeeper/batter Amir Jangu are likely to make their 'debut' against Nepal. Karima Gore, who has already played eight Twenty20 internationals for the US, has not played for the West Indies. In the Caribbean Premier League, he made a good impression playing for Antigua and Bermuda. In that sequence, he scored 219 runs in 11 matches.
Along with Hussain, the West Indies team also has experienced players like Fabian Allen, Jason Holder, Kyle Meyers. Despite playing two Tests and five ODIs on their tour of India from October 2, the West Indies have rested some key players. Serfan Rutherford, Roston Chase, Romario Sephard, Gudakes Motti from the team that played Twenty20 against Pakistan last month have not been included in the West Indies team that will play against Nepal.
Adil's comeback preparations
Nepal has also included Adil Alam Ansari and Sandeep Zora in the 16-member team. Spinner Lalit Rajvanshi, who missed the Australia tour, has also returned to the team. It is believed that Adil, who is skilled at playing big shots, will take a place in Nepal's middle order. He is returning to the national team after 3 years.
Kushal Bhurtel, Asif Sheikh, Rohit Paudel, Dipendrasingh Airy, Kushal Mall, Adil's batting may come in the top order. In the middle order, Gulshan Jha, Zora, Arif Shaikh are substitutes. After a strong performance in World Cup League 2 in Scotland three months ago, coach Law is showing confidence in Arif in Twenty20.
It seems that fast bowlers will have to struggle to get a place in the playing 11 on the slow wicket of Sharjah. Nepali team has experienced Sompal Kami, Karan KC along with Gulshan Jha and Nandan Yadav in fast bowling. Recently, Gulshan has bowled very little while Nandan has been making a good impact. Spin is the reliable side of Nepal. The Nepalese spinner will have to show high ability to curb the batting of West Indies, who are batting at high speed bowling. Sandeep Lamichhane, Dipendra, Lalit and Shahab Alam will handle Nepal's spin front.
chance against test nation
Nepal has played 9 times against test nation in twenty-20 internationals. So far, Nepal has not won any victory. As often as Nepal comes close to victory, victory is far away. Captain Rohit Paudel sees the possibility of victory because West Indies do not have a full team this year and they are also in rhythm.
'From the recent training and tour, we are in a rhythm, of course we have come here to win,' Rohit said on Can's social network, 'because the experience of playing against Test nations in the last 2-3 years has benefited us a lot. In those games we were going to miss in the last minute, that pain is with us. Being influenced by that, we hope to win the series this time.'
The West Indies 'A' team visited Nepal last year and won the five-match series 3-2. In the last match, Rohit scored a century and won Nepal. Nepal is going to play Twenty20 International in UAE for the first time since 2019. 6 years ago, Nepal won the three Twenty20 international series with UAE by 2-1. From here, Rohit made his 'debut' in the Twenty20 international.
Nepal played a Test nation for the first time in the 2014 Twenty20 World Cup. After scoring only 126 runs, Nepal suffered an 8-wicket defeat against the host Bangladesh. In the tri-nation series held in Singapore in 2019, Zimbabwe defeated Nepal by 5 wickets and 40 runs respectively in two matches. In the same year, in the 5-nation tournament in Oman, Nepal suffered a 13-run defeat against Ireland after failing to make a target of 146 runs.
In 2022, Nepal was again disappointed with Ireland in the four-nation tournament held in Oman. Despite bowling out Ireland for 127 runs, Nepal had to accept a 16-run defeat after scoring 111 runs by losing 9 wickets in reply. India, which sent the second team, defeated Nepal by 23 runs in the Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China. Nepal scored 179 runs after losing 9 wickets after India scored 202 runs with the loss of 4 wickets.
If you remember the World Cup held in America and West Indies last year, Nepali supporters still miss it. After the match against Sri Lanka in Florida was canceled due to rain, the Nepali team played St. Vincent. Then the two matches between South Africa and Bangladesh were like a 'heart attack' for the Nepalese fans. Despite stopping South Africa with a score of 115-7, Nepal fell short by 1 run. Bangladesh was also bowled out by Nepal for 106 runs. But Nepal was bowled out for 85 runs in 19.2 overs. Nepal coach Law was the West Indies coach in 2018-19. Now he is looking for a way to defeat the West Indies.
