KATHMANDU: In the ICC Cricket World Cup League-2, every match Nepal plays is no longer just about the result; it will also determine the future of teams in the title race. For this reason, one of the teams watching most intently as Nepal takes the field is likely the United States.

Nepal is set to play the second match of their home series at the TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur this Saturday against league leaders USA. After losing the first match to Scotland by 2 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, head coach Stuart Law says Nepal will be looking for a “comeback” in this game. “We were forced to lose the first match due to some lazy batting. Now, we will return to practice after a day of rest. We will fully prepare for the match against America by correcting our weaknesses,” he said.

During the previous League-2 cycle, Nepal remained unbeaten in their last eight home matches, eventually collecting 40 points from 36 games. Along with this success, Nepal managed to retain its ODI status and secure a spot in the World Cup Qualifiers. The same team took to the field this time with the goal of repeating that magnificent rhythm in the final eight matches of the two home series.

In the series involving the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman that concluded on May 5, Nepal could not perform as expected. The team lost to Oman by 102 runs via the DLS method. However, by winning three out of four matches, they kept alive the possibility of saving their ODI status and securing a spot in the World Cup Qualifiers.

Nepal began the final home series against the USA and Scotland sitting in seventh place with 18 points from 24 matches. However, Scotland, who are in the race to win the League-2 title, defeated Nepal by two runs after delivering excellent bowling in the final over. With this, Scotland has reached 36 points from 29 matches, tying with the USA. The USA has played five fewer matches than Scotland. If they can pull off a “clean sweep” in this series, the USA will secure the title.

Tough Competitors

Nepal hosted the USA for the first time on home soil on February 8, 2020. In that match, after excellent bowling performances by Karan KC and Sushan Bhari, the USA—chasing a target of 191—was bundled out for 155 runs in 44.1 overs, losing all wickets.

At that time, although Nepal suffered two defeats against Oman in the same series, they put on a stellar performance in the second match against the USA to claim an eight-wicket victory. In that game, Nepal bowled out the USA for just 35 runs in 12 overs. During that spell, Sandeep Lamichhane took six wickets and Sushan took four. With this, Nepal equaled Sri Lanka’s record for bowling out a team for the lowest total.

Since then, Nepal and the USA have met eight times in League-2. Among those, the USA has won six matches, while one match ended in a tie. This time, under the same tournament, Nepal is hosting the USA on home soil again after six years and three months.

However, the Americans have already acclimatized to the Nepalese environment before this series. The team played a four-match series against Oman and Nepal ‘A’ at the Upper Mulpani Cricket Ground. In those matches, Nepal ‘A’ remained undefeated. The ‘A’ team defeated the USA by three wickets in the first match and by seven runs in the second. Nepal ‘A’ captain Anil Kumar Sah says this victory will help the senior team maintain high morale when they play on Saturday.

“If any team comes and loses to the ‘A’ team before playing the senior team, their morale stays low. Therefore, we aimed to defeat the main USA team. Our matches likely gave the senior team an idea of how to play against this opponent,” he says.

The ‘A’ team defeated the USA by three wickets in the first match and by seven runs in the second.

Pubudu Dassanayake, the coach who led Nepal to the T20 World Cup for the first time in 2014, has arrived in Kathmandu with the American team this time. He is remembered as a coach who made significant contributions to the development of Nepali cricket. The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) initially gave him the responsibility of head coach for six months on August 23, 2011. Before him, Sri Lankan coach Roy Luke Dias had managed the Nepali team for about nine years.

Under Dassanayake’s coaching, Nepal won the ICC World Cricket League Division Three title in 2013. He succeeded in qualifying Nepal for the 2014 ICC T20 World Cup, fulfilling a commitment he made three years prior.

In October 2015, he resigned as head coach, citing personal reasons. With that, his four-year tenure ended. His final match as coach was against Papua New Guinea in November 2015. After that, at the special request of the ICC, he served as a ‘consultant’ coach for the Nepal team for matches against Namibia and the MCC.

Later, in December 2021, Dassanayake was reappointed as the head coach of the Nepali team. CAN gave him the responsibility for a second time from a shortlist of 15 coaches. At that time, he was brought back with the aim of improving the Nepali team, which was consistently performing poorly in League-2.

However, the Nepali team could not perform as expected in three series. Subsequently, alleging that there were cliques/factions within the team, he resigned again on July 20, 2022. During a period of about eight months, Nepal suffered defeats in seven out of 12 matches. Nevertheless, Dassanayake, who began the 2024-2027 cycle of League-2 as Canada’s coach, has been serving as the head coach of the USA since May 25, 2025.

Nepal Cricket Team. Photo courtesy: CAN

Under his coaching, the USA is in top position, remaining undefeated in their last six matches. Dassanayake, aiming to continue his unbeaten streak, admits that playing in Nepal is always challenging. “Nepal is one of the difficult places to play. It is not easy to beat Nepal on their home ground. The spin-friendly pitches here pose a great challenge,” he says.

Recent statistics show that the USA is stronger than Nepal. The USA hasn’t faced a defeat against Nepal since October 27, 2024. Nepal’s last win against the USA, who are undefeated in four matches, came in the ODI World Cup Qualifiers. In the match held in Harare, Zimbabwe, on June 20, 2023, Nepal defeated the USA by six wickets. That was the only win Nepal achieved in the group stage of that tournament.

Since then, the USA has won four consecutive matches. Two of those were played on USA’s home ground, while the remaining two were played in the UAE. “Currently, some players in the team have already played in the NPL here. Therefore, they are familiar with the conditions here,” says Dassanayake. All-rounder Milind Kumar, bowling all-rounder Harmeet Singh, and wicketkeeper-batter Andries Gous played in the second edition of the Nepal Premier League (NPL).

Nepal in ‘do or die’ situation

The top four teams in League-2 secure a direct spot in the World Cup Qualifiers. In that regard, the USA is currently a strong contender. Nepal, on the other hand, is struggling to save its ODI status. The team has 11 matches remaining. Among these, three matches are left to be played on home ground. Therefore, the current situation has become like ‘do or die’ for Nepal.

Nepal’s goal was to win all matches in this series if possible, or at least secure three wins if not. Team all-rounder Gulsan Jha also said previously, “We are very low in the points table. Therefore, we must take advantage of the home ground.”

In the first match against Scotland, Nepal came close to victory. Gulsan tried to bring the team back into the game by scoring an unbeaten 61 off 35 balls. However, after the match was reduced to 39 overs due to rain using the DLS method, Nepal received a revised target of 221 runs. Nepal, having lost seven wickets, was limited to 218 runs in the allotted overs.

Rohit and Dipendra shared an important 76-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Rohit made 32 runs off 46 balls including two fours, while Dipendra added 55 runs off 49 balls with the help of five fours and one six.

The main reason for Nepal’s defeat was the weak performance from the 26th to the 28th over. During those overs, captain Rohit Paudel, vice-captain Dipendra Singh Airee, and Aarif Sheikh were dismissed. Nepal could only add 11 runs in those three overs. Except for Rohit, the other batters were caught out. Although the pitch was not particularly bad, the Nepali batters came under pressure while trying to play in the air.

The characteristic of the Nepali team is to gather runs at a fast pace by hitting the ball into ‘gaps’. However, head coach Stuart admits that the attempt to look for fours and sixes on every ball caused the team to lose after getting close to victory.

“When Rohit and Dipendra partnered, they played in the gaps, ran well, and turned ones into twos. Boundaries followed after that. But in the upper order, we looked for sixes unnecessarily. We are not a team that only hits sixes,” he said.

Rohit and Dipendra shared an important 76-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Rohit made 32 runs off 46 balls including two fours, while Dipendra added 55 runs off 49 balls with the help of five fours and one six. Despite that, Nepal failed to secure a win.

A positive aspect for Nepal is Dipendra’s excellent form. He scored 268 runs with one century and two half-centuries in the previous series. He continues to be in form in this series as well.

Similarly, Gulsan, who failed to make much of an impact except against the UAE in the previous series, is slowly returning to form. Because of this, there is no longer a situation where Nepal has to put all the pressure on Dipendra in batting.

“I’m not too worried about the batting. It’s just one match. Batters performed well in the previous series. We couldn’t show that rhythm in the first match. But since all three departments—batting, bowling, and fielding—look good, we will return to the series,” coach Stuart said.