7 things Nepal should pay attention to before World Cup.

25 May, Houston. After 10 years, Nepal is playing the T-20 World Cup in America and West Indies in a week. Apart from fast bowler Sompal Kami, all the players will be playing T20 World Cup for the first time.

In the World Cup, Nepal is in Group D with South Africa, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands. To play a series with the powerhouse country of world cricket, to reach the famous foreign franchise leagues of the world and to achieve the goal of getting Test recognition, Nepal should perform brilliantly in the World Cup. In this World Cup, Nepal aims to play Super-8 by defeating at least one test team including Netherlands.

T-20 cricket has nothing to do with it. One over or one ball can change the whole game. But normal performance is not enough to reach Super-8.

1. Line and length in bowling

Nepal's fast bowlers do not have the pace to beat world class batsmen. Nepal's leading fast bowlers Sompal Kami and Karan KC have a regular bowling speed of 130/135 kmph.

Sompal Kami has bowled 141 km per hour as the fastest bowler from Nepal so far. Pratish Jisi, Gulshan Jha and Kamalsingh Airi and Avinash Bohra also do not have much speed in the force.

But the test-recognized teams regularly play with balls of 140 to 155 km per hour speed. So they can easily score runs against Nepal. A Nepali bowler should pay attention to variations in bowling, disciplined line and length and yorker.

2. A good performance is required from the middle and lower order batsmen

Among Nepal's 15 players, all except Sagar Dhakal, Abhinash Bohra and Lalit Rajvanshi can bat well. But the victory seems to depend more on the runs of the top three batters.

It is not always the case that the title will run. Middle-order and lower-order players should take the responsibility when the top-order batsmen are not performing well. In the first T-20 match against West Indies A, Nepal completed the target of 205 runs in 19.4 overs losing 6 wickets.

In the fifth match, when West Indies A was defeated by 6 wickets, the contribution of the top three Nepali batters was 74.39 percent. In the second match, Nepal scored 150 runs by losing 9 wickets in 20 overs while chasing the target of 161 runs against West Indies A. The top three batters had 14.08 percent and others 85.91 percent.

In the semi-final of the ACC Premier Cup last May, Nepal lost to the UAE by 6 wickets and lost the opportunity of the Asia Cup. When Nepal scored 119 runs in 20 overs, the top three batsmen scored an average of 13 runs. The contribution of the top three Nepali batters was 11.50 percent and the rest was 88.49 percent. These are some examples.

The scenario is like that. Kushal Bhurtel and Rohit Paudel scored runs and it was easy to win the match. Dipendra Singh Airi and Kushal Malla are in the middle order. If Kushal Bhurtel lasts for 10 overs, it is becoming a scenario to win the match," said cricket analyst Ravi Timalsina.

3. Good bowling in the death overs

In the T20 format, Nepal's major weakness is death over (15-20 over) bowling. Death over specialist Abhinash Bohra showed some improvement with a yorker in the series against West Indies A. Before that, his performance was not very memorable.

This time he could go to the World Cup as his substitute was not ready in the death overs. In the World Cup, Pratish JC is the substitute when Abhinash performed poorly. But he has got the opportunity to play very few games.

Nepal does not have a second death over specialist bowler. Nepal has been using Dipendra Singh Airi in death overs. Karan KC has also been doing well.

South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have good finishers. Poor bowling in the death overs loses both morale and moments. A special plan regarding death over seems necessary.

4. Responsibility and correct shot selection

In international cricket, the main reason for Nepali batter's bad batting is wrong shot selection and irresponsibility. They tend to get out for their own reasons more than the opposition bowlers.

Not being able to choose the right shot when trying to play a big shot, turning the bat under pressure after the dot ball, not being able to show responsibility and courage at the crease have been weaknesses.

5. Special attention while batting first

Batting first against big teams, Nepal's results are not so good. Nepal won two matches in the five-match series against West Indies A. Both games were chasing goals.

In the semi-finals of the ACC Premier Cup, Nepal lost to the UAE and Hong Kong in the third place, batting first. In the final of the triangular T20I series in March, they could not save 184 runs against the Netherlands.

Pursuing a goal has a definite goal. But while batting first, one thinks of a huge total. To reach that huge total, the team gets into trouble when the wicket goes to the tune of playing big shots. Nepal should pay attention to this weakness.

The toss is not in our hands. When we play with the goal in mind, we keep winning. If we have to bat in the beginning, according to our bowling, more than 200 runs are required. If the spin does well, even 180 can be saved", says analyst Timilsina.

6. High morale required

In cricket, it doesn't matter what kind of opposing team and what kind of players are there. The one who can play the ball and bat well during the game will win. Netherlands defeated South Africa in T20 in 2022 and ODI in 2023.

Uganda is playing in the World Cup after defeating the Test team Zimbabwe last November. Namibia defeated Sri Lanka in the 2022 World Cup. There are many examples in world cricket where small countries have shocked the big ones.

For that, the morale of the players should be high. Recently, Nepal is playing the World Cup with more than 40 international matches. There is no shortage in the game. If there is no lack of morale, the results can be good.

7. Performance as per condition

Poor performance outside the country is a perennial problem of Nepal. The main reason for that is not being able to play according to the conditions. But after becoming a player, you should be able to understand every condition and play accordingly. It will be easy to understand the condition.

A month before the start of the World Cup, Nepal has come to America and West Indies to practice. Nepal's captain Rohit Paudel says about the condition, "We wanted to see the condition of the West Indies. Because our two games are there. We are already aware of the conditions here. We are very excited about the World Cup.