The result was disappointing for the team, which was considered a favorite for the championship, after it lost to Hong Kong in the semifinal and played against China for the third place.
Speaking with myrepublica.com, skipper Ritu Kanaujiya blamed weak batting for the weak performance. “We mostly played with the cross-bat for straight balls, which cost us dearly,” she said. “We must improve our batting in next tournaments.”
Beginning the tournament on a high note, Nepal won four straight matches in the league round before losing to Thailand in the last league match. The loss put Nepal against eventual winner Hong Kong in the semifinal.
Against Thailand, Nepal flattered while chasing a modest 81-run target. In the semifinal, Nepal managed only 76/6 in 20 overs, which was not enough to stop Hong Kong from winning the match.
Pradip Raj Pandey, coach of the team, confessed that batting was the weak point. “We batted badly and ran between the wickets badly,” Pandey added. “Five of our players got run out in a match against Singapore.”
Nepal defeated Singapore only because of Rubina Chhetri´s miraculous final over in which she claimed five wickets including a hat-trick, which forced Singapore to a tie leading to ´bowl out´, which Nepal won 2-1.
Nepal crossed the 100-run mark only twice in the tournament. Nepal scored 109 runs against debutant Iran and 103 runs against China in the third-place play-off.
It was only third international tournament for the Nepali eves, so it´s obvious that the team lacked exposure; but looking back at the performance in earlier events, hopes were high. In 2007, Nepal finished second after Bangladesh and in 2008 Nepal had won the ACC Women´s Cricket Tournament in Thailand.
As 2010 Asian Games near, Nepal must prepare well for better performance. In Asiad, the competition will be even tougher at many countries like India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan will be taking part in the event.
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