Nepal had lost its opening match against Sri Lanka by 76 runs as the bowlers were punished heavily by the Sri Lankan batsmen. [break]
Nepali bowlers were too expensive as every Nepali bowler, except Krishna Karki, finished with a double-digit economy rate. Karki was the most economical bowler with an economy rate of 7.25.
The batsmen also didn´t fare well as they could not build a single big partnership in the match. Prithu Baskota, Binod Bhandari, Pradeep Airee and Sharad Vesawkar were the most successful Nepali batsmen against Sri Lanka. Airee remained unbeaten on 35 runs while Baskota scored 32 runs. Vesawkar scored 26 runs and Bhandari struck 25.
Coach Pubudu Dassanayake said the team has chalked a plan that they will try to stick to it in the match against India. “We have analyzed our weaknesses and strengths during the match against Sri Lanka. We will try to rectify the mistakes and perform to our potential. We hope to get at least one win before leaving Maldives,” said Dassanayake."We have to improve our bowling against India as some of the overs in Tuesday´s match went really bad," he added.
Skipper Paras Khadka said the team has acclimatized to the conditions in the Maldives. “After a good learning experience from the match against Sri Lanka, we are ready for a good match. We have evaluated our performance against Sri Lanka and will try not to repeat the same mistakes,” said Khadka. “The bowlers will be under pressure to not concede too many runs in the ground with small boundaries,” he added.
Nepal is placed in Group B along with India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Pakistan defeated KIC by 149 runs in a group match on Wednesday. Pakistan scored 274-9 in 20 overs and restricted the Indian team to 125 in 18.3 overs.
Afghanistan defeated the host Maldives by 182 runs in a Group A match. Batting first, Afghanistan posted a mammoth total of 314 runs losing only six wickets in 20 overs. In reply, the host team was bundled out for 132 runs in 18.3 overs.
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