Nepali women´s cricket team, considered medal contenders, crashed out from the tournament after suffering defeats against Japan twice. The men´s team, on the other hand, is not expected to fetch any medal.[break]
Seeded Sri Lanka have directly entered the quarterfinals after getting a bye in the group stage. Nepal were drawn against Sri Lanka after finishing as the runners-up behind leaders Hong Kong in the group stage.
The Sri Lankan team, which kept a watchful eye on the Nepali team as they lost by 30 runs against Hong Kong in the group stage, is packed with experienced players.
The players have appeared in 58 Test matches, 229 One Day International (ODI)s and 36 Twenty20 internationals. Among them, left-handed fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa has played 30 Tests and 95 ODIs while captain Jehan Mubarak has played 10 Tests, 38 ODIs and 16 T20s.
Other players who have considerable experiences in Tests and ODIs are Malinga Bandara, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Indika de Saram, Dilhara Lokuhettige, Kaushal Lokuarachchi, Isura Udana and Gayan Wijekoon.
Nepal´s captain Paras Khadka has said that Nepal will not be under any pressure to win as they have already faced Test playing nations in the ICC U-19 World Cup.
Although Nepal had defeated South Africa thrice and Pakistan, Bangladesh as well as New Zealand once in the ICC U-19 World Cup, they had lost both the matches against Sri Lanka in two editions of the World Cup.
Sri Lanka had defeated Nepal by nine wickets in the ICC U-19 World Cup in 2000 on their home ground. Weeraratne had scored nine runs and Mubarak (unbeaten) 31 runs then, and will face Nepal once again after 10 years on Wednesday.
In the 2008 edition of U-19 World Cup held in Malaysia, Sri Lanka had defeated Nepal by 61 runs. Nepal´s captain Khadka, vice-captain Gyanendra Malla, Mahesh Chhetri, Anil Mandal, Rahul Vishwakarma and Amrit Bhattarai who had played that match are in the Nepali squad this time too.
The last time Nepal faced Sri Lanka was during the 11th South Asian Games held in Bangladesh earlier this year. Nepal´s U-23 team had lost the match by 64 runs.
It seems Sri Lanka are unaware about Nepal, but Nepal are quite familiar with the Sri Lankan team. Roy Luke Dias, who was the coach of the Sri Lankan team until 1999, is currently the coach of Nepal. Nepal will get close to a medal in the team event for the first time if Sri Lankan Dias, who has been the coach of Nepal for the last nine years, can steer Nepal toward victory. If he fails to do so, that match will be his swan song.
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