Nepal’s visit to Oman: First victory, first defeat
KATHMANDU: SEPT. 20 – When the Nepali team went to Oman for the second triangular series under the Cricket World Cup Two, one of the goals of the Nepali team was to beat Oman at home. The United States, which has always been winning, had the courage to lose.
But the United States, which has recently become stronger by changing players and coaches, also had a strategy of playing cautiously. Dav Whatmore, one of the most successful coaches in world cricket, was shocked by the retirement of Paras Khadka, the former captain and mentor of the team. Paras’ unexpected retirement in the face of the competition came as a shock to the players and the coaches themselves.
Nepal, which had gone to Oman a week ago after not being able to prepare in Kathmandu due to rain, was scheduled to play the same preparation and two friendly matches there. Before the friendly match against Papua New Guinea, another blow to Nepal was the resignation of coach Whatmore. The resignation of Whatmore, who was brought in with a big dream last December, made the Nepali team and well-wishers sad again.
Amidst two major setbacks, Nepal has made its visit to Oman satisfactory. Nepal won two games and lost two games in the tournament. This time too, the visit to Nepal was full of ups and downs. Due to average batting and tight bowling, Nepal won one game each against Oman and USA. A 7-wicket victory over Oman in the final match on Sunday was a game that made the tournament pleasant and memorable for Nepal.
During the tour, Nepal lost to the losing United States and lost to Oman, which has not lost so far. This is the first time that Nepal has lost to Oman in ODIs and the first time that it has lost to USA in ODIs. Earlier, Oman had defeated Nepal in both the games. In the first match this time too, Oman dominated Nepal.
After 8 years, the victory against Oman made Nepal forget the bad rhythm of the previous game. After defeating USA by 5 wickets in the first match, Nepal lost to Oman by 5 wickets. In this game, the batsmen of Oman made the Nepali bowlers cry. But in Sunday’s game, Nepali bowlers dominated the Oman batsmen in the same way. As a result, seven Oman batsmen could not add a double run. Karan KC and Sandeep Lamichhane took four wickets each and Sharad KC took wickets.
In the second match, Nepal, which has been performing consistently against the United States lately, looked helpless against the United States. Nepal was bowled out for 174 runs as the batting line-up could not move. In reply, USA won by 6 wickets. Captain Gyanendra Malla’s decision to bat first after winning the toss proved to be wrong.
The last time Nepal defeated Oman was in the 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division 3 match. That is why the victory against Oman at home is meaningful for Nepal.
Nepal is currently ranked fourth in the league table. With games still to be played against a strong team, Nepal managed to take on Oman with two points, but naturally it has succeeded in putting Nepal under pressure. Nepal has eight points from eight games. Oman is at the top with 20 points from 13 games. Even though Nepal and Namibia have the same 8 points, Nepal is ahead in net run rate.
After losing two games in a row, there was natural pressure on the Nepali players against the last game and strong Oman but the Nepali bowler destroyed the batting lineup of Oman. Which encouraged the batsman. Following the usual target of 122 runs, Nepali batting remained restrained. Captain Gyanendra Malla hit a back-to-back half-century and the opening looked good. He is also not the first Nepali player to score four half-centuries in ODIs. But the hero of the victory against Oman is again the bowler.
Though Nepal has always been considered strong in bowling, Nepal has always been a victim of instability in batting. It is clear that most of the young players still have a lot of work to do in Nepali batting due to their faith and their efforts in entering important competitions. As the Nepali batsmen still do not have confidence in the ODIs, there will be a natural challenge in the upcoming series.
Nepal’s weak batting line-up is also indicated by the list of players who have scored the most runs. Gyanendra Malla has scored the most runs for Nepal in this series. He has scored 224 runs in 8 innings. He is number 15 on the list. The list is dominated by Omani batsmen. Oman’s Aqib Ilyas tops the list with 610 runs in 10 innings. But in bowling, Nepali leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane has made it to the top five.
But in the coming days, the Nepali batting line-up needs to be further improved. After the resignation of coach Dav Whatmore in the middle of a one-year contract, now the Nepal Cricket Association (CAN) has a challenge to find a new coach as soon as possible.
