Nepal’s chance to reclaim form in T20 tri-series with Canada, Oman

Kathmandu, Sept. 27: The Nepali men’s senior cricket team, in both T20Is and ODIs, is on a losing streak. 

While the team failed to register a win in the T20 World Cup in June, Nepal could not win a single match in the CWC League 2 tri-series against Canada and Oman recently.

Moreover, Nepal’s losses to Canada show that the squad’s performance depleted excessively since Nepal, as the host, whitewashed a three-match ODI series against Canada in February this year.

However, when Nepal and Canada met once again in the warm-up match of the T20 World Cup in May, Nepal was defeated. And Canada continued their winning streak over Nepal in the recent League 2 tri-series.

Nepal, losing twice to Canada and once to Oman, in the tri-series played in a double round-robin format, was able to earn a point in the final match against Oman on September 24 as the game was called off due to incessant rain.

In all the matches lost, Nepal’s batting and bowling has fallen short of the performance of the opponents.

Other than in the T20 World Cup, Nepal played in the ACC Men’s Premier Cup in April. 

Nepal did not lose a single match in the Premier Cup group stage against Hong Kong, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia; but Nepal was defeated in the semi-final by the UAE and for the third place by Hong Kong.

Nepal returned home for a 5-match T20 series against West Indies A, as a practice for the World Cup, and won two of the five matches. In the World Cup, Nepal made headlines when South Africa barely won the match against the emerging cricketing nation.

Overall, Nepal has played in 18 T20Is in 2024 and won seven of them. 

Meanwhile, Nepal now has a chance to reclaim its good form as the squad prepares for a T20 tri-series with host Canada and Oman from September 28.

Players’ T20I stats

Nepal travelled to Canada with a 15-member team alongside Dev Khanal as a travelling reserve. Of the 15 members, Bhim Sharki and Rijan Dhakal have not debuted in T20Is. Dev is also yet to play for the senior squad in a T20I.

Regarding the other 13 players, Arjun Saud is the least experienced one. Opener batsman as well as a wicket-keeper, Saud has only played three T20Is and scored 70 runs since 2022. The three matches he played were in Nepal’s tour to Kenya in August 2022 for a 5-match T20I.

On the other hand, Karan KC is the most experienced T20I player in Nepal’s squad. Having played in 70 matches, KC has taken 90 wickets and scored 434 runs.

Similarly, the most influential batter and bowler in the squad are Dipendra Singh Airee and Sandeep Lamichhane respectively. Since his T20I debut in July 2018, Airee has scored 1,658 runs, with a highest score of 110 runs, in 67 matches.

Nevertheless, recently the most effective player for Nepal in T20Is has been skipper Rohit Kumar Paudel. Paudel debuted against the UAE in January 2019 and has played in 52 T20Is since then. He has scored 1,144 runs, with a highest score of 61, and taken six wickets with the ball.

Moreover, Paudel is involved in most of the best partnerships for Nepal in T20Is in 2024. In 2024, Paudel had eight partnerships of over 40 runs while there were 12 partnerships including other players where ≥40 runs have been scored. 

On Captain’s shoulders

The highest partnership for Nepal in T20Is in 2024 has been between Nepali skipper Rohit Kumar Paudel and Gulshan Jha. They partnered for 86 runs against the Netherlands on March 2.

Similarly, Rohit was behind several other high partnerships for Nepal in T20Is this year. He partnered with Aasif Sheikh for 65 runs and 59 runs against the Netherlands on February 28 and March 5 respectively.

With Kushal Malla, on February 27 against Namibia, partnered for 57 runs. He then partnered with Binod Bhandari for 54 runs and with Aarif Sheikh for 53 runs, both against Hong Kong, on March 9.

Since Nepal’s major concern has been a lack of partnership recently, Paudel, with his recent results, is the most dependable player for Nepal when the squad faces Canada and Oman from Saturday.

After opening the T20I tri-series with Canada on September 28, Nepal faces Oman on September 29. As the tri-series is also being played in a double round-robin format, Nepal will play against Canada and Oman again on October 1 and 2 respectively.