KATHMANDU, Oct 6: Head coach of Nepali women's cricket team, Raju Basnet, has expressed his satisfaction toward the preparation of the team for the ICC 2016 Women's World Cup Qualifier-Asia, to be held in Hong Kong fron October 9-13. The Nepali team is leaving for Hong Kong on Thursday. 

“Our preparation has gone quite well as we conducted 45-day training for the qualifiers using best available facilities. The sufficient training period has boosted the confidence of the players,” coach Basnet said during a farewell program organized by National Sports Council (NSC) at Satdobato on Wednesday.  

Nepal will face host Hong Kong, China and Thailand in the qualifier to be held at the Tin Kwong Recreation Ground in Mong Kok of Hong Kong. The winner of the qualifier, which is going to be played in round-robin format, will progress to the ICC 2017 Women's World Cup Global Qualifier.

“All the opponents we are going to face in the qualifier are of the same level to us. All the participating nations have played similar number of international matches, so, early predictions of the results can't be made. One who plays better on the match day will win,” added Basnet.

Basnet also said that topping the group and qualifying for the world cup global qualifier is the main target of the team.

Captain Rubina Chhetri also expressed her delight over the preparation of the team. “This time we got sufficient training period and good facilities. We played some practice matches against boys' team which has helped us gain confidence,” said Chhetri.

“We have watched the video footages of the opponents during training and have made preparation accordingly. We can beat them as there is not big gap among us in terms of playing level,” said Chhettri when asked about the opponents. 

Chhetri also added that they have worked hard to improve their batting. “Comparatively, batting has been the weakest part of our game so we have worked hard in the training to improve it. We also have worked on the balling and fielding departments to make them better,” added Chhetri. 

We want to qualify for the next round and delight our country folks on the occasion of Dashain, said captain Chhetri.

Keshav Kumar Bista, member secretary of the National Sports Council, who attended the program to bid farewell to the Hong Kong-bound players, said that he has expected the team to make the nation proud by qualifying for the next round. 

“I believe all the players are talented and good enough to play for the national team and defeat all the opponents,” said Bista. 

Bista also informed that each player of the squad will be provided 20 dollars as daily allowance. 

Nepal will face host Hong Kong on October 9, Thailand the following day and China on October 11. 

 
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