Nepal will look to create an impression when they take on the world’s best in Group D along with Sri Lanka, South Africa, Netherlands, and Bangladesh. They have some good quality players who can change the course of the game with their batting.
Rohit Paudel-led side qualified for the mega event from the Asia qualifiers that began on 30th October till 5th November 2023. They would look to showcase their skills and prove their worth in the 2nd T20I World Cup.
Here we look at the 5 key players:
Aasif Sheikh
Aasif Sheikh is an explosive right-handed batter who has tremendous potential to succeed on the big stage. He will open the innings with Kushal Bhurtel and can hit big shots that would help Nepal in a big way.
Aasif played a total of 44 T20I matches so far with 863 runs including the best score of 64. His previous match was against Hong Kong where he scored only 5 runs. He would be vital to Nepal’s cause with an attacking approach in the first six overs which will create doubts in the captaincy’s mind.
Kushal Bhurtel
Kushal Bhurtel is an attacking batter who can hit big shots with his explosive batting. He made his T20I debut for Nepal in 2021 and played some lovely knocks against smaller teams like Papua New Guinea and others.
He has played 43 matches (42 innings) and scored 1081 runs with a strike rate of 130.87. His best score was 104 not out. Kushal Bhurtel would be for a great performance against top-quality teams and help Nepal provide flying starts that would put the bowlers under immense pressure.
Rohit Paudel
Rohit Paudel will be leading the Nepal in this year’s edition. He will play a key role depending on the situation. Rohit has lots of shots in his armoury and would be looking to create the same impact.
He made his T20 debut for Nepal in 2019. Since then, he has featured in 49 T20I matches (47 innings) with 1108 runs including the best score of 61. The biggest challenge for Rohit Paudel is to face top-quality bowling.
The onus is on him to lead from the front while batting and captaincy that would ensure that some upsets in the group happen.
Dipendra Singh Airee
Dipendra Singh Airee is another top-quality Nepal batter that they can depend upon. He can hit big shots and clear the fence easily. Singh is currently the leading run-getter in T20I format for Nepal with 1626 runs from 64 matches (56 innings) with 1 century and 9 half-centuries to his name.
He would play a key role in the middle order to hit big shots and increase the run rate, also showcase his talent to the world’s best bowlers.
Karan KC
Karan KC is an impressive all-round option who bowls quickly and bats with venom lower down the order.
Karan is a medium-pace bowler who has grabbed 90 wickets from 68 matches (68 innings). He made his T20I debut for Nepal in 2015. The biggest challenge for him is to bowl against the world’s best batters including de Kock, and Kusal Mendis.
His role is to pick early wickets in the first six overs and stop the run flow which would allow Nepal to restrict the opponents while batting first or to bowl decently while defending the target.
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