KATHMANDU: Nepali cricket is at its peak lately. This team, which was confined to the Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground in Kirtipur a few years ago, has been competing against top teams like India, Pakistan, and South Africa in the World Cup and Asia Cup over the last two years.

Sandeep Lamichhane’s spin magic, the explosive opening pair of Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh, and the stable leadership of Captain Rohit Kumar Paudel have given Nepal a new identity in world cricket.

However, one problem is constantly chasing the team – the instability of the middle-order. Currently, the Nepali team’s start looks strong. But when the decisive moment arrives, the batting line starts to look weak. Due to this, Nepal has experienced painful moments even after coming close to victory many times.

Nepal defeated the Test team West Indies 2-1 in a historic T20 series in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Immediately after, they secured their spot in the World Cup to be held in India and Sri Lanka next year, by remaining undefeated in the ICC T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier 2025 in Oman. However, analyzing the performance in these two tournaments clearly shows the middle-order’s weakness.

In the decisive match against Oman to win the title, Dipendra Singh Airee was out for two, Kushal Malla for seven, and Mohammad Aadil Ansari for 16 runs.

Apart from Samoa, these batsmen occasionally performed well in other matches.

The same situation was observed in the home series against the West Indies. In the second match, after a 58-run partnership between number three batsmen Rohit Kumar Paudel and Kushal Malla, Nepal was able to set a target of 149 runs.

Former cricketer Dipendra Chaudhary says, “Nepal’s top-order is currently one of the most stable in Asia, but the middle-order lacks confidence and a clear role.”

Whatmore improved the top-order

The team has shown faith in young players like Malla and Sandeep Jora in the current squad. These two are talented batters. But there is no consistency in their performance.

Malla has received opportunities, but he has not been able to play a big innings. He has only scored 33 runs in his last eight T20 matches.

Jora has not performed as expected since scoring his career-best 63 in the second match against the West Indies.

Nepal’s top-order is currently stable. Bhurtel, who debuted in the T20 series against the Netherlands at home in 2021, has scored 1807 runs in 68 innings, including one century and 13 half-centuries.

He is the second-highest run-scorer after Airee. Similarly, he is also the player who has scored the most half-centuries.

The performance of the other opener, Aasif, who debuted with him, is also not weak. Having played 67 innings, he has scored 1639 runs, including 10 half-centuries. No other batter in the top-order, apart from Rohit, has reached the level of these two.

Dipendra says, “The continuous trust over 5–6 years has enabled Bhurtel and Sheikh to understand their game and take responsibility. But the middle-order does not have that situation.”

Gulshan Jha, who was previously used in the middle-order, has a changed responsibility now. He is in the role of a finisher. Malla and Airee are in his place. Head Coach Stuart Law is giving continuity to these two at number 4 and 5. He is also testing players like Aadil Alam and Jora in T20s.

Amidst continuous changes, players have not been able to do justice to their role and position. There was a time when Nepal had a balanced middle-order like Paras Khadka, Gyanendra Malla, and Sharad Vesawkar. They had the ability to pull the team out of pressure and win the match at any time. But that spark is not visible in the middle-order now.

The younger generation is trying to fill that void, but they have not been able to bring stability due to a lack of experience, patience, and strategic understanding.

Captain Paudel admits, “We are still trying to stabilize the batting line-up.” The importance of the middle-order in cricket is often linked to both the future of the game and the success of the team. If the top-order gets a great start, the middle-order’s responsibility is to increase the run rate and make the score big. However, when the top-order fails to perform as expected and loses early wickets, the middle-order has to stabilize the game.

This is not just about scoring runs; it also involves ‘rotating the strike’ according to the pressure of the bowling and the circumstances, controlling the pace of the game, and rescuing the team from crisis.

Especially in short formats like T20 and One-Day Internationals, the middle-order’s finishing ability is considered decisive.

In the final overs, they must demonstrate the ability to reach a high score through ‘power hitting’ and challenge the opponent.

The middle-order often has to endure mental pressure. Because the crucial time of the game comes in this phase.

After the top-order loses wickets or the opposing bowling team increases its attack, the middle-order batters must display patience, strategy, and awareness of the situation. They must increase the run rate, keep wickets safe, and adjust the usage of the ball when necessary. This provides the power to change the rhythm of the game and keep the team’s morale high.

In the context of the Nepal cricket team, the role of the middle-order appears even more sensitive. Even when the top-order gets a good start, the middle-order doesn’t seem to get the expected momentum due to a lack of continuity and experience.

Weakness is often exposed at decisive moments, which is stopping the team from winning the match. The lack of experienced and strategically-minded batters in the middle-order can lead to wrong decisions under pressure, slow down the scoring rate, and put the team under pressure in the final overs.

Therefore, Rohit says that Nepal Cricket needs to bring stability to strengthen the middle-order. He says, “Sometimes the batting order needs to be changed according to the situation, but we are trying to bring stability.”

Strong bench

However, the situation is slightly better in the ODI format. In the 50-over format, players like Aarif Sheikh, Bhim Sharki, and Gulshan have stabilized the middle-order to some extent.

In 10 innings of the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2, Aarif has scored the highest 384 runs, including three centuries.

Bhim, who played the same number of matches, scored 262 runs including one half-century, while Gulshan has 230 runs to his name having played one match more.

The players who play in both these formats are mostly the same. But in a short game like T20, where decisions are made on a few balls, the middle-order needs to be able to make even quicker strategies.

They must show finishing power and confidence. Strategically, the team needs to think about giving continuous trust to the current players and keeping a ‘backup’ ready. Even now, Nepal has good ‘bench strength’.

Players like left-arm seamer Kushal, along with Vivek Yadav, opener Rupesh Singh, Anil Sah, and Lokesh Bam, are ready to secure their place in the team. However, the proper utilization and planned opportunities for these players have not been ensured.

Nepal has used more than eight players in the middle-order in the last two years. Gulshan, Dipendra, Aarif, Kushal, Sompal Kami, Bhim Sharki, and sometimes Captain Paudel himself. But no combination has lasted for long. This has brought uncertainty to the roles. Who is the finisher? Who is the anchor? Who is the floater? These questions are still unclear.

Former player Sharad Vesawkar says, “The batting has not performed much in the middle and death overs. Monty Desai used to send the batter based on how many overs were remaining and who the bowler was. Now, they are being played in a fixed position. There are not many changes.”

Even if Bhurtel gets out, or Aasif gets out, Captain Paudel comes in at number three. Bhurtel does ‘aggressive’ batting. But Paudel bats slowly. In such a situation, when Bhurtel is out, sending Paudel, who plays like Aasif, reduces the ‘approach’ and also the run rate, he says.

The domestic league system also does not seem to have paid any attention to strengthening the middle-order.

In tournaments like Nepal’s only franchise league, the Nepal Premier League (NPL), or provincial leagues, clubs send their star batters to the top order, which prevents youth from getting opportunities to play in the middle-order.

Former Nepali national team spinner Sanjam Regmi considers T20 cricket a ‘brutal game’. In this game, the direction of the match can change at any moment.

He says that not only skill but also the ability to make instant decisions and the right mindset should be present in other players. The beauty of the T20 format is its intensity and fearlessness.

“Since receiving ODI status in 2018, Nepal has shown very low activity in changing players in the T20 format. Even after almost seven years, the same names are repeating in the team; this problem has arisen because new players, apart from Aadil and Gulshan, have not been able to enter the team permanently,” he says.

Significant changes were seen in the Oman and UAE teams, who played the World Cup Qualifier alongside Nepal. However, Nepal reached Oman with the same squad that had been playing recently.

He says another big problem with Nepal’s current players is that they appear mentally weak. Many players have not been able to bat freely and take risks as they play with the mentality of retaining their spot.

There is a feeling that they are playing defensively to keep themselves set in the team during the game. Such a mindset is fatal in a game like T20, where every ball can turn the game. His conclusion is that the defensive thinking limited the team to small scores, and missing opportunities to attack prevented big scores against teams other than Samoa.

The current weakness in Nepal’s middle-order is also the lack of ‘hard hitters’. A T20 team requires at least three power-hitters, as these hitters put pressure on the opposition bowlers. But apart from Gulshan, such hitters have not been seen in the Nepal team.

Although Aadil performed well in a few matches against the ‘A’ team in India before, he could not play in the World Cup Qualifier. In this situation, the middle-order batting showed a tendency to play balls but not score runs.

The second major problem is also ‘strike rotation’. Regmi says Nepal’s batters are slow in taking singles and doubles, which slows down the pace of the game.

“When boundaries don’t come, the efficiency in taking runs becomes even more important, but Nepal has shown weakness in that area,” he says. The third problem is that batters often struggle to pick the slow ball. Nepali players need pace; when the speed of the ball decreases, the players get confused. This gives opposing bowlers an opportunity to strategically control the game.

Over-reliance on all-rounders in the middle-order is another challenge. In the current team, Rohit, Dipendra, Gulshan, Malla, Bhurtel, and Aadil are all all-rounders. Such players can provide balance, but relying on all-rounders clearly shows a lack of pure batters and specialist bowlers.

This has reduced the technical strength of the middle-order. The patience and planning of a pure batter cannot always be expected from an all-rounder. Dipendra’s recent performance confirms this.

However, Nepal has recently achieved great success by qualifying for the T20 World Cup. But that success is not due to batting, but due to bowling and fielding.

Nepal’s bowling is currently world-class. The combination of Sompal, Karan, Sandeep, and Gulshan can dismiss any team for a cheap score. They can achieve thrilling victories like the five-run win against Qatar and the one-run win against the UAE.

Also, Nepal’s fielding has significantly improved in recent years. That is why Nepal was able to easily qualify for the World Cup, says another former player and former team selector, Uttam Karmacharya. However, he says that if this team wants to compete at the world-class level, improvement in batting is essential.

He says, “If we are to think about the future, the time has come for Nepal to make courageous decisions in the T20 format. It is necessary to rest some older players in the team and give chances to some new players. We also have players for that.”

Captain Paudel’s wish is now to play against two-time winner India, and one-time winner Australia along with England. However, to challenge these strong nations and achieve victory, the middle-order must learn to take fearless risks.

They must be able to hit boundaries, rotate runs, and turn the direction of the game according to the situation.

Karmacharya says there is no doubt that since the door to the World Cup has opened, the focus should now be on improving the middle-order.