After the match against Pakistan was washed out due to rain, India will take on Nepal in the second match where the Rohit Sharma-led side will be looking for a big win to seal their place in the Super Four of the Asia Cup cricket tournament. Pakistan has already qualified for Super Four from Group A. He has three points in two matches. India have one point after their match against Pakistan was called off due to rain. If Monday’s match is also washed out, India will go into the Super Four with two points but Rohit Sharma and his co-team will certainly not want to go that way. This will be India’s first international match against Nepal, as both the teams have not played in any format at the international level. Nepal will become the 20th team to play against India.
There were some positives for India in the match against Pakistan, which they will want to continue in the tournament. Pakistan’s fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf had at one stage pushed India’s top order and reduced their score to 66 for four. But for the first time in his ODI career, wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan and all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who came in to bat at number five, added 138 runs for the fifth wicket to take India’s score to 266 runs.
Kishan batted particularly impressively and held one end after the top-order batsman failed to get a walk. Doubts were being expressed as to whether Kishan would be able to run at number five but he proved that he can thrive in the middle order by putting in a fine display of defensive and attacking play according to the conditions.
Nepal’s bowling attack is not as strong as Pakistan’s and in such a situation Kishan wants to add some runs to his name by batting aggressively. Similarly, the team management will also be happy with Pandya’s half-century innings. He first played the role of Kishan’s partner very well and later batted aggressively.
India’s top four batsmen Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer have not been able to cope with Pakistan’s fast bowlers and the team management wants these four batsmen to adapt to ODI cricket as soon as possible. Rohit and Kohli were rested for the ODI series against West Indies while Iyer is making a comeback from injury. These three batsmen will get a chance to score big against Nepal.
Nepal have a plan ready to stop Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, the captain told the press conference
However, India will be disappointed that their bowlers did not get a chance to showcase their skills against Pakistan’s batsmen. The team management will be keen to see how fast pacer Jasprit Bumrah is capable of bowling 10 overs and fielding up to 50 overs.
Nepal lost by 238 runs against Pakistan in the first match of the tournament and will now aim to challenge India. His hopes will rest on leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and captain Rohit Paudel.
The teams are as follows.
IndiaTeam: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (Vice-Captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Akshar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Famous Krishna, Sanju Samson (reserved).
NepalRohit Paudel (capt), Kushal Bhurtel, Asif Sheikh, Bhim Sharkey, Kushal Malla, Arif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Aray, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi, Pratit GC, Mausam Dhakal, Sandeep Jora, Kishore . Mahto, Arjun Saeed.