However, Nepal has to face hurdles from the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the group stage to fulfill the dream. [break]
On the eve of the ACC T20, Republica not only looked back at the Nepal´s records against the group stage opponents but also asked Nepali team coach Pubudu Dassanayake how he takes every opponent.
Records against Hong Kong
In the six ODI matches played against Hong Kong, Nepal has registered three wins and three defeats. Nepal has also lost one-off T20 match against Hong Kong.
Nepal has lost is first ODI match against Hong Kong by five wickets during the ACC Trophy in 1996 held in Malaysia. In the second match in 1998 ACC Trophy held in Lalitpur, Hong Kong again beat Nepal by six wickets. In the semifinal of ACC Trophy in 2000, Nepal again lost to Hong Kong by 179 runs.
After three successive defeats, Nepal came back into contention defeating Hong Kong by 87 runs in 2006 ACC Trophy. Nepal also defeated Hong Kong by 44 runs in the group B match of 2008 ACC Trophy Elite. Nepal continued its good form against Hong Kong with a 118-run victory in the ACC Trophy Elite in 2010 in Kuwait.
In the recent past, Hong Kong had defeated Nepal by 30 runs in a T20 match during the Asian Games held in China last year.
Records against the UAE
Nepal has faced defeat in all of its six ODI matches against the UAE.
In 1998 ACC Trophy, the UAE beat Nepal by 94 runs. Nepal faced one wicket defeat in the ACC Trophy in Dubai two years later. In 2002 ACC Trophy held in Singapore, Nepal faced defeat by six wickets.
The UAE yet again defeated Nepal in the semifinal of ACC Trophy in Malaysia in 2006 by nine wickets. Nepal lost the semifinal match against the UAE by six wickets in the ACC Trophy Elite in 2008 as well.
Records against Kuwait
Nepal has a good record against Kuwait as it has won all of its matches, including four ODIs and a T20.
In the 2002 ACC Trophy, Nepal defeated Kuwait by 124 runs in Singapore. Nepal then registered six wickets victory in the ACC Trophy in 2006 in Malaysia. In 2008 ACC Trophy Elite Cup, Nepal beat Kuwait by seven wickets while Nepal defeated Kuwait by eight wickets in the 2010 ACC Trophy Elite.
Meanwhile, Nepal registered 3-2 bowl-out victory over Kuwait in the ACC Twenty20 in 2009 in UAE.
Nepal will meet Saudi Arabia in the last match of the group stage. This is the first meeting of Nepal against Saudi Arabia.
Coach´s takes
Nepal´s coach Pubudu Dassanayake is confident of winning all the matches of the league round. The coach is expecting the first match against Hong Kong to be quite challenging. “The team has certain plans against Hong Kong and we will stick to the plans.”
About the match against the UAE, Dassanayake said that he is familiar with the game of the UAE as he had watched them while he was the coach of Canada
Dassanayake said that the Nepali team is aware about Kuwait as well and the bowlers know how to bowl against them. “As there are maximum numbers of players from Pakistani and Indian origin and they are aggressive, we will work on our plan accordingly.”
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