KATHMANDU: Nepali national cricket team has once again arrived at the same juncture where it stood two years ago.

This team, which has been seeking continuity and stability in the ICC World Cup League-2, has not been able to produce satisfactory performances.

With 16 matches of the League completed, Nepal is in the seventh position in the table with 12 points, including five wins, nine losses, and two draws. However, the story of the national team does not end here.

This same team is returning to the field after four months, with the same goal but carrying a different mindset.

Captain Rohit Kumar Paudel states that the team aims for a comeback by playing against the home team United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States of America.

Before flying to the UAE, he had said, “The team is balanced. The mentality is also positive. We will bring good results.”

In 2023, Nepal created a story of a comeback by achieving miraculous results.

Nepal defeated Scotland and Namibia on home ground, winning 11 out of 12 matches and succeeded in securing a place in the One-Day World Cup Qualifiers—which was considered almost impossible—and retaining its ODI status until 2027.

The Nepali players were enthusiastic with this result. But that enthusiasm did not last long.

Nepal remained unstable in the qualifiers, and the team could not handle the subsequent international busy schedule.

Captain Rohit is now trying to transform this instability into stability. “We also played in Australia last month and did some practice in between. This will make a difference in the result,” he says.

Confidence is mixed in his voice. However, the exact nature of the team’s performance cannot be stated.

During the four-month ‘break,’ Nepal has not been able to play a 50-over match.

Whatever matches it has played are all of the shorter formats. The results are also not above mixed.

The team could not bring good results during the short preparation tour in Australia.

They only won two out of six matches in the Top End T20 series.

Immediately after that, the team that played a series against a Test nation for the first time at the Sharjah International Cricket Stadium in the UAE and won continuously, suffered a crushing 10-wicket defeat in the final match. However, they succeeded in winning all six matches of the ICC T20 World Cup Asia and East Asia Pacific Qualifiers held in Oman.

Three players’ comeback

From the squad that played the World Cup qualifiers, head coach Stuart Law has excluded Sandeep Jora, Lokesh Bam, and Aadil Alam.

Jora, who had gone to the UAE and Oman with the national team after a long time, last played a League-2 match against Scotland on home soil in 2023.

Since then, he has not been able to secure a place in the One-Day team.

He raised hope by scoring 63 runs in the second match of the T20I series against the West Indies but failed to perform in subsequent games.

He was dropped after scoring only 29 runs in the next five matches.

Following his exclusion, Bhim Sharki has made a comeback to the team. With the ability to play steadily in the longer format, he has scored 262 runs, including one half-century in 11 innings.

He is in the fifth position in the list of top run-scorers for Nepal.

Apart from him, Anil Kumar Sah, who had opened in a few matches, has also returned to the team after a long time.

He was out of the squad due to a finger injury. Besides these two, spinner Shahab Alam, who is awaiting his debut in the One-Day format, has also been included.

Although he debuted in the T20I match against the Netherlands at the TU Cricket Ground in 2021, he had not been able to play the longer format. However, he is a bowler who has been performing excellently in this format lately.

Last year, he was included in the second position in the list of the highest wicket-takers by taking 31 wickets in the Prime Minister Cup One-Day Cricket Tournament.

The top four teams in the League-2 points table will secure a spot in the 2027 One-Day World Cup Qualifiers. However, the bottom four teams will get to play the playoffs.

This path is circuitous. On the other hand, the ODI status will also be at risk. Therefore, under the pressure to make a comeback, head coach Law has attempted to make the team useful in terms of a new combination.

It is hoped that the experience gained from there will bring some results in the games of the upcoming cycle.

Nepal is currently heavily dependent on its middle order.

Arif Sheikh has scored the highest 384 runs, including three half-centuries in 11 innings.

On the other hand, Captain Rohit, who has dropped one position, has scored 282 runs.

Apart from these, the two openers have performed decently, but Dipendra Singh Airee and Kushal Malla have not been able to find their rhythm.

Head to head

The USA, which was limited to fifth place in the last edition of League-2, is in good form this time.

With almost half the games played, the USA has already accumulated 28 points with 14 wins.

This team is undefeated in six consecutive matches.

The USA’s record against Nepal is similar. In both matches last year, the USA defeated Nepal by three wickets and 37 runs. Out of nine matches played so far, Nepal has won four and one match was ‘tied’.

Similarly, the UAE is at the bottom of the table with 6 points.

This team, which last defeated Scotland by 97 runs, has suffered five-wicket and eight-wicket losses to the Netherlands and Scotland, respectively, in the last two games.

Therefore, it is certain that the UAE will also take to the field with the aim of making a comeback, just like Nepal.

However, this team has not achieved any victory against Nepal for 31 months lately.

The last time the UAE defeated Nepal was by 68 runs in the series held on its home ground on March 2, 2023.

Since then, Nepal is undefeated in five matches.

Nepal looks slightly superior, also due to the one-run victory in the T20I World Cup held in Oman.