Nepal is playing against Oman in the ICC World Cricket League-2 triangular ODI series today. The game will start at 9:15 pm Nepali time at Musa Cricket Stadium in Houston.
Nepal is under pressure to win all the games in the US tour. Nepal, which is in the sixth position with 6 wins and 6 losses in 12 matches, is under pressure to win the remaining matches to make it to the top three in next year’s ODI World Cup qualifiers.
But the initial time of Nepal’s visit to the United States has been a shock. Nepal’s first-choice openers Asif Sheikh and Kushal Bhurtel will not be available for today’s match due to injuries. That is why Nepal will field Subash Khakurel and Sunil Dhamala as openers.
Dhamla returned to the Nepali team after 2017 and Subash 2020. Dhamala is considered an ODI player. Dhamala is likely to make his ODI debut in today’s match. He returned to the team after a good performance in the series against Zimbabwe A last month. Subas, on the other hand, got the chance after both Kushal and Asif were injured.
Both openers are considered ODI players. But you also have to pay attention to your strike rate. Nepal will field Dev Khanal at number three. Young batsman Dev will be under pressure for big innings. But in the practice game in the US, Dev struggled to score. The strike rate was weak.
Dipendra Singh Airy and Rohit Poudel will be the fourth and fifth batsmen respectively. These two are the pillars of Nepal’s batting. It would be difficult to win without the high performance of these two players who are in high rhythm. Rohit had played the highest innings of 126 runs in the history of Nepali ODI against Papua New Guinea two months ago.
In the second match against Papua New Guinea, Dipendra played century innings of 105 runs. Dipendra had played an innings of 110 runs against Malaysia in T20I. It seems that it will be difficult for Nepal to make or complete a huge sum without the excellent performance of these two young batsmen who are in high rhythm.
The partnership of these two players and the running wit win the wicket is also excellent. Nepal will field Arif Sheikh as an all-rounder. Arif and Binod Bhandari are likely to be ranked sixth and seventh respectively. Nepal’s team seems to be strong in batting.
There will be depth in Nepal’s batting. Sompal Kami will be at number eight and Karan KC at number nine. Karan is an explosive batter. Sompal can play big innings. Nepal will field spinners Sandeep Lamichhane and Sushan Bhari in today’s match.
Sandeep is the main bowler. Susan is considered more experienced than another spinner Sagar. He will use left-handed tactics while playing Susan. Nepal seems to use Arif and Dipendra as the fifth bowlers. Dipendra has been consistently excelling in bowling.
There will be 6 options in Nepal’s bowling. There seems to be a reliable player up to number nine in batting. With Nepal’s playing 11 batting hobbies, there is a possibility of a balanced field in bowling.
Nepal’s potential playing 11:
Subash Khakurel, Sunil Dhamla, Dev Khanal, Dipendra Singh Airy, Rohit Poudel, Arif Sheikh, Vinod Bhandari (wicketkeeper), Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane (captain) and Sushan Bhari.
