Lots to Learn in Lanka

After rain badly affected Nepali Cricket Team’s preparation here in Nepal, the Sri Lankan Tour, which was set aside as pre tournament practice for ACC Emerging Nations Cup will be the only real preparation that Nepal will get before the much coveted Tournament. Though the tour is for just 2 weeks Nepali Team has lot to build up

Net Practice

Nepali Cricket Team last played Cricket Tournament three months back and the players haven’t been able to practice outdoors or in nets; rain being the major (but not the only) culprit. The first thing the team will be looking to compensate for lack of practice in Nepal. They would be looking basic cricket-normal batting and bowling in nets and pitch to get into their comfort zone. The first part of the tour is planned exactly for this.

Match Practice

Cricket Team haven’t been in a real match scenario for over 3 months. All the matches of ACC Emerging Teams Cup are tough matches and Nepal is not going to get any easy matches like we did in ACC Elite and T20 Cup. The primary objective of the tour is to provide team with good match practices and replicate in real match scenario of the high stake matches. The tour is intended mainly to make team match fit to face the music at pressure cooker situations against mighty opponents. Nepal is set to play 5 practice matches in Sri Lanka.

Fast Bowling Opportunity and Strategy

Nepal’s fast bowling has been the weakest aspect of the team for last one and half year. This is Perhaps the weakest squad of pace battery Nepal has ever had. The team left aside experienced Amrit Bhattarai and picked youngsters Ram Naresh Giri and Avinash Karn hoping spirited performances form these young lads. The Sri Lankan Tour is certain to be a test for these youngsters and matches against U 23 Team would definitely help to shape their bowling sills. It’s also an opportunity for them to adjust and bond with the team just before a big tournament. This tour has the biggest stake for these youngsters, if they impress it’s nearly certain that they would feature till the WC Qualifiers. From teams perspective the captain and coach will probably look into these youngster performance in this (and ACC Emerging Teams Cup) tournament to formulate strategies on how (and if) these raw talents can be used.

Determining Khadka’s role

Paras Khadka’s injury is also be an issue that has been left for the Sri Lanka tour to decide. Team management should take no risk whatsoever with his injury, especially when Nepal is on the verse of playing all important world cup qualifiers. And even if he stays in the team only to bat, which is the most likely case, the team has to decide on his batting condition. Khadka has usually been the one who would resurrect the teams batting, would an injured arm; can he still pull that off?

Catching the Flow

Nepali Cricket Team has been in a great form in recent times. But with no matches and practice for last three months they are certainly rusty. Team needs to use this practice matches to catch the terrific form they were in. The teams that we are playing against ACC Emerging Teams Cup are easily stronger than us. Hence the flow becomes even more important to produce surprises in the tournament.

Building a Team Spirit

Before Sri Lanka tour Pradeep and Anil were practicing in Sri Lanka while Gyanendra and Basanta were brushing up their Cricket in Canada. In fact Gyanendra will only join the team on 9th August. They played there in different condition with different players. Also the National Team hasn’t played together as a team for a very long time now; and also with 3 youngsters in the side there is certainly a lot of adjustment and adapting that is to be done (especially for those three) to build a good team spirit and that should be another objective of Lanka tour. The team which departed for Sri Lanka on Thrusday is currently spending ample time on nets and outdoors practicing. They will be having net practice on the first half of the tour and will be playing matches on the second half.

Sri Lanka training tour match schedule
7th August: Match No 1 Vs SL U23 at the Bloomfield Grounds 10 am
8th August: Match No 2 Vs SL U23 at the NCC Grounds at 10 am
9th August: Rest
10th August: Match No 3 Vs SL U23 at Thurstan Grounds at 10 am
11th August: Match No 4 Vs SL U23 at the NCC Grounds 10 am
12th August: Rest
13th August: Match No 5 Vs North East combine at the Moors Grounds 10 am

Via :- Hamrocricket