Nepal and the United States are facing a common problem as they face off in the Cricket World Cup League 2 series on Saturday. Nepal is losing its chance to make it to the top four of League 2, while the United States has lost its top spot.

Nepal and the United States' problems have intensified after suffering a similar defeat in the first match against Scotland. Scotland overtook the United States to climb to the top spot after winning over Nepal and the United States in very exciting matches. The difference in both Scotland's victories was only 2 runs. The pain that Nepal had to endure earlier was also forced to be embraced by the United States.

Gulshan Jha played a brilliant innings at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Stadium in Kirtipur, bringing Nepal close to victory, while Sayteja Mukamalla scored a magnificent century to push the United States to an unforgettable victory. But fast bowlers Brad Curry and Brandon McMullen bowled maturely in both matches and guided Scotland to victory.

After the defeat to Scotland, the pressure on Nepal to save the one-day international is increasing. Nepal is in seventh place in the eight-nation League 2 with 18 points from 25 matches. Scotland and the United States are already safe in this region as the top four teams in League 2 will be automatically qualified for the World Cup. These two teams are in the race for the title. Scotland is in the first two places with 38 points from 30 matches and the United States is in the first two places with 36 points from 25 matches.

The United States is the same team that defeated Nepal in all four matches played in the League 2 circle in 2024-27. Moreover, Nepal has lost 6 of its last 8 matches against the United States. Nepal has won one match and one match was ‘tied’. That ‘tie’ took place in Houston in 2022 when current US coach Pubudu Dassanayake was leading the Nepali team.

The US has been performing well under Pubudu, who led Nepal to their first T20 World Cup in 2014. He understands Nepali cricket well. But he says, ‘It is very difficult to play in Nepal in terms of conditions, and it is even more difficult to defeat Nepal in Nepal. We want to win as many games here as possible and strengthen our top position.’

Nepal last defeated the US in the 2023 World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe. At that time, Nepal had won 11 of its last 12 matches in League 2 and qualified for the World Cup directly, winning all 8 of them at home. Nepal’s performance this time has not been up to par. Nepal has already lost 5 of its 9 matches at home.

Nepal has 8 matches to play in the next two series, apart from 3 matches in this series of League 2. The pressure is increasing on Nepal with each match. Apart from this series, Nepal has to go to the Netherlands to play against the Dutch and Namibia and Oman to play against Oman and Canada.

Along with the US, Nepal will also have to face adverse weather conditions. Rain is forecast for Saturday during the day. In the previous series of League 2, Nepal had won 2 matches against the UAE and 1 match against Oman, but lost the other match. After the match was stopped due to rain during the middle innings, Nepal was 102 runs behind Oman. Nepal also lost to Scotland on the basis of the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Scotland scored 321 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in a 47-over shortened match against the USA, which is also the highest score in ODI cricket at the Kirtipur ground. But Nepal is struggling to bat on this wicket. There is pressure on Asif Sheikh, Binod Bhandari, Arjun Kumal, captain Rohit Poudel to bat high. Kushal Bhurtel, who has not played in the last 3 matches, is likely to return to Nepal's playing 11.

Nepal's batting is based on Dipendra Singh Airi and Gulshan Jha. Dipendra has scored 323 runs in the last 5 matches of the busy Nepali Cricket League 2 in Kirtipur. He scored 33 runs in the match against Oman, where he failed to score a half-century. Gulshan scored 61 runs in 35 balls against Scotland, including 2 fours and 5 sixes. He has scored 126 runs in 2 of the last four matches of League 2 and has taken 7 wickets.

America has been performing exceptionally well in the League 2 journey. Mukamalla scored 104 runs off 75 balls against Scotland on Thursday, including 5 fours and 8 sixes, but America was defeated. ‘I am very excited to play against Nepal. I watched last year’s Nepal Premier League, which gave me a lot of insight,’ Mukamalla said after playing against Scotland.