KATHAMNDU, Dec 1: Nepal will face fellow associate team Thailand in its fourth match of the ongoing ACC Asia Cup Women's T20 Cricket Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand on Thursday. Nepal had flown to Thailand with the target of defeating at least one Test-playing nation, but it has lost all three matches against Test nations in the tournament so far.
Nepal, which is yet to open account in the points table, currently sits rock bottom among six participating teams. Winless Thailand is ahead of Nepal in the six-team contest on the basis of net run rate after playing equal three matches.
Facing similar predicament, winless associate nations Thailand and Nepal (though Nepal's ICC membership is currently suspended) will be looking forward to register at least a win before wrapping up the tournament.
Going through the past records, Thailand seems to have the upper hand. In their 11 encounters since the 2007 ACC Women's cricket tournament, Nepal has lost nine and won two matches. Nepal's last win over Thailand dates back to 2011 during the ACC Women's T20 Championship in which Nepal record a 21-run win in the group stage. But Thailand avenged the defeat in the third-place play off of the same tournament. Last Thursday's practice match between Thailand and Nepal was the latest encounter between the two sides in which Nepal faced a 19-run defeat in Bangkok. Before that, Nepal had lost both leg matches against Thailand during the ICC Women's World Cup Qualifying Series Asia in Hong Kong.
Poor batting has been the major setback for Team Nepal in all three matches played so far and Nepal's coach Raju Basnyat had also pointed out that as the major drawback of the team before leaving for Thailand.
Nepal was restricted below 50 runs in all three matches played in the tournament. In the opening match against Pakistan, Nepal faced a nine-wicket defeat after scoring 47 runs. In the second match, Nepal was bowled out for its lowest total of 23 runs by Sri Lanka in its eight-wicket defeat.
The third match played on Tuesday saw Bangladesh record a 92-run win over Nepal as Nepali batswomen made just 41 runs.
Similarly, the home team Thailand also lost its opening match to India by 9 wickets and continued its poor form when it was beaten by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka by 35 runs and 75 runs respectively.
Debutant Bidari spins Nepal to dominant win over Thailand A
