Cricket Nepal’s Australia representative Sudin Pokharel had an opportunity to chat with Nepali captain Prithu Baskota about the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Australia. Excerpts:
How was preparation in Australia?
We are well prepared for the event after understanding new situation and environment here.
How you evaluate results of warm-up matches?
They provided us opportunity to learn. We lost to PNG due to simple mistakes. But despite the loss, we are more confident as we could understand the pitch and ground. Match against New Zealand improved our game as the experience of playing against a Test nation was entirely different. The matches have prepared us for the event.
The pitch in Nepal and here in Australia are different. Now what role captain plays?
Pitches are totally different. We were accustomed of playing in slow pitch that assists spinners. Here, pitch is bouncy and ball comes rising to batsmen. We could evaluate the pitch during the warm-up matches. I am serious about use of Rahul Biswakarma as he is a key player and all three nations in our group will probably struggle against spin. Our pacers will also perform well in the bouncy pitches.
How you evaluate three nations in our group?
They all are strong. We watched Australia and England playing warm-up matches. They are closely related to the conditions here. But we are surprise package in the event. Our confidence is high and we have taken all three opponents as equally strong. We will take match by match.
Are you fit?
I didn’t play both warm-up matches due to ankle injury. But I planned a lot from the players’ box. Physio has said I am fit and ready. We all are ready. Although we are in a strong group, we have all capacity to come up as a giant killer.