As the opening pair of Dipendra Chaudhary and Mehboob Alam failed in the earlier four matches, Nepal slightly changed their bating order bringing Anil Mandal in the opening lineup. However, Nepali opening duo failed to give a good start once again. [break]
Skipper Paras Khadka and Sarad Vesawkar, who were batting well in the previous matches, could not score runs today (Friday).
Gyanendra Malla anchored the innings and Nepal reached at least to the total of 162/9. However, it was a small target for the US.
If any team wants to put on a good target, their top order should click and middle order must carry it till the last over. But it was not the case against the US today.
Chasing the small total was not a tough task for the US, and most importantly, the US were playing with a full plan.
They maintained their cool while batting. They didn´t attack any bowler in the beginning. They read the wicket and all of our bowlers well and finally attacked. The US were also in a had do-or-die situation and they batted as per their plan.
Though Nepali spinners could not repeat their charisma today, they at least restricted the US to make sure we were through to the final. However, Nepal did not seem to have planned to restrict them.
Our fielding was also ordinary. The US were hitting the balls to the fielders and still they were able to run singles and twos.
However, I still congratulate them and praise all the players for their hard work in the last four matches. I want to wish best of luck for their final against the US and hope they will take a sweet revenge of today´s defeat.
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(As told to Nabin Khatiwada)
Raju Khadka had played 26 matches for Nepal. He is former captain of the national team as well as the first batsman to score a century for the country in the One-Day format of the game.
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