Upbeat with the victory in the World Cricket League Division 5, Nepal begin the ACC Trophy Elite 2010 cricket tournament playing defending champions Hong Kong at Unity, Kuwait on Wednesday.
Mount Everest Sporting Club General Secretary Dharma Raj Giri wecloming Nepal team captain Paras Khadka at the Kuwait Airport. Photo by NepalKuwait.com
Another factor to boost Nepal’s morale for the opening match is that Nepal had beaten Hong Kong in last two meetings. In 2008, before winning the title, Hong Kong lost to Nepal in the league match – a repetition of the result two years earlier.
“They are a good side and are in better tandem than us, but we are taking it positively as we have beaten them in last two meetings,” captain Paras Khadka said before two hours practice on Tuesday.
In five meetings in one-dayers, Hong Kong has upper-hand with three wins – one each in the ACC Trophy of 1996, 1998 (league) and 2000 (semifinal).
Kuwait’s pitches are known to be favorable to batsmen and it would be up to Nepali batting lineup, missing vice-captain Gyanendra Malla who was denied visa for unknown reason, to come good.
“We believe 240 is a defendable total and we can chase around 220,” Paras, who scored 81 against Hong Kong in 2008, said.
Nepal’s performance in the ACC Trophy is not glorious one. Although Nepal had made to a final and two semifinals in last four editions, it had never lifted the trophy. Bangladesh won it twice before becoming a Test nation and UAE completed a hat-trick before handing it to Hong Kong.
“We got to do well,” Paras added. “We will carry on the confidence of Div 5 and start from scratch in a new event to prove ourselves.”
Hong Kong has retained seven players from 2008 squad and will be looking to forget the performance of 2009 ACC Twenty20 Cup where they finished tenth among 12 nations. Nepal finished fifth.
Hong Kong’s stand-in coach Tabarak Dar believed that the Twenty20 result has not significance and that they could defend the title. “We are the current ACC defending champions and we will try our best to defend our title,” he told media.
They will be looking at captain Najeeb Amar and young all-rounder Irfan Ahmed for the match-winning performance. Prior to the event, Hong Kong played a friendly match against China and beat them by 179 runs after scoring 258.
For Nepal, captain Paras will be the key along with young left-arm spinner Rahul Kumar BK, the man of the final in the Div 5.