Defending champion Afghanistan is in high spirits as it won all the group stage matches of the tournament whereas Nepal is all set to challenge the team with One-Day status on its home ground.[break]
“Afghanistan is a good side but they also know how good we are. Nepal is a threat for every country and we´ll give everything to win the semifinal,” said Nepali skipper Paras Khadka.
On the other hand, Afghanistan has been claiming that it would defend title since the tournament started. “We are the champions and we´ll defend the title,” Afghanistan coach Dawlat Ahmadzai said before the tournament began.
“We are meeting one of the top associate countries in the semifinal. It is also a test that will ascertain where we are. We have a plan to restrict them and we´ll stick to it tomorrow (Friday),” said Nepal coach Pubudu Dassanayake.
Nepal pulled off a narrow victory against Hong Kong and Kuwait in the group stage and lost to the UAE. However, Nepal pulled off a 95-run victory over Saudi Arabia and kept its semifinal hope alive. As the UAE could not defeat Saudi Arabia by 71-run margin in the last group stage match on Thursday to beat Nepal on run rate, the home team got a lucky breakthrough.
However, Dassanayake said it was not their sheer luck and gave the credits to his players. “Boys have really earned the semifinal. After two close matches, we wanted to win the match against Saudi Arabia by a margin of around 100 runs. We played well to get it. We deserve to be in the semifinal,” he said.
Dassanayake said that he wants to continue the momentum that Nepal has gained after the match against Saudi Arabia. “I like to see the same approach that we had in the match against Saudi Arabia,” he said.
He clarified that Nepal will open its innings with Subash Khakurel and Anil Mandal but he want to keep options open in the middle order.
“We want to get around 40 runs in the first six overs. As wickets are getting better now score of around 150 to 160 will be an average total,” Dassanayake clarified.
Skipper Khadka said that they are yet to execute their strategy fully in the group stage matches but said that team wants 100 percent victory on the semifinal. “We are yet to execute our batting strategy but I love to see that happen tomorrow,” said Khadka.
In the Nepali squad, Amrit Bhattarai, Gyanendra Malla and Rahul BK are down with fever but the team management hopes them to be available by Friday morning.
Past records
Afghanistan, the team with one-day status, has superior record over Nepal. Afghanistan had won the only Twenty20 match between the two teams. Afghanistan had won the group stage match of the ACC Twenty20 in 2007 by six wickets.
On the other hand, Nepal had lost all four One-Day encounters with Afghanistan after winning their first One-Day encounter in 2004. Nepal had won the match by 47 runs but lost all four matches since.
“In the T20 format, any team can beat any side and we want 100 percent victory tomorrow as we are taking Afghanistan for the first time on our home ground,” reiterated Khadka.
Head to Head
2010 One-Day Final Afghanistan won by 95 runs
2008 One-Day Semifinal Afghanistan won by 37 runs
2008 One-Day 3rd-Place Afghanistan won by 3 wickets
2007 Twenty20 League Afghanistan won by 6 wickets
2006 One-Day 3rd-Place Afghanistan won by 64 runs
2004 One-Day 5th-Place Nepal won by 47 runs
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