Nepal is hopeful of qualifying for the ICC U-19 World Cup, scheduled to be held in 2012 in Australia, from this tournament. Top two teams from the five ICC regions are competing in the qualifiers, out of which top six will qualify for the World Cup.[break]
Nepali U-19 team is facing Afghanistan in its first match in the campaign. “Afghanistan is toughest opponent in the tournament. However, we are familiar with the team, and we are hopeful that we can beat them,” said Coach Jagat Tamata to Republica from Ireland.
“We met them twice in the ACC U-19 Elite Cup held in Thailand in February, and we had beaten them in group stage. We, however, had lost the final against them,” said Tamata. “We made a few mistakes during the final, and we´ll correct those mistakes and beat them in Ireland,” he added.
Nepali U-19 team played one off warm up match against Namibia on Tuesday and lost it by 17 runs. Coach Tamata, however, claimed that rather than upsetting the team, the loss inspired the players to be more alert. “The players learned not to take opponents lightly. They are now motivated to win matches in the qualifying tournament,” claimed Tamata.
According to Tamata, the warm up match helped Nepali players acclimatize to the cold weather in Ireland.
Tamata thinks that batsmen could not perform well in the warm up match. “Top order had given good start but middle order could not support them. Prithu (Baskota), Pradeep (Airee), Rajesh (Pulami) and Rahul (BK) got out cheap,” said Tamata. “I´ve said that we can win matches if batsmen score 180 to 200 runs and that is what they failed to do yesterday. I repeated the same thing to the batsmen who are now determined to achieve the target,” he added.
Tamata has been claiming that with a score of 180 to 200 runs and good spin attacks, Nepal can win matches.
According to the coach, the team will judge the wicket of Leinster only on Thursday. “If we find a good wicket, we´ll bat first and give a target to Afghanistan,” said Tamata.
After Afghanistan, Nepal will take on Scotland on Friday in Merrion. The other participating teams are the US, Canada, Namibia, Kenya, Ireland, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
Related story
Afghanistan defeat Nepal, qualify for ICC U19 World Cup 2018
-1200x560-1779450784.webp)
