In an attempt to lift the ACC Elite Cup Trophy for the first time, Nepal will take on tournament favorites Afghanistan in the final at Hubara Ground of Kuwait on Friday.
Afghanistan, with One-Day International (ODI) status and qualifiers for the ICC World Cup Twenty20, won the ACC Twenty20 five months ago and are a favorite to add one more feather to their cap.
However, Nepal have played with a cricketing sense and skills that were long due and are in every way capable of turning the tables on Afghanistan.
Also, Nepal need to level the field as the loss to Afghanistan in the semifinal of the World Cricket League Division 5 in Jersey in 2008 by 47 runs had pushed them on the backfoot of world cricket. The loss was one of three losses that Nepal suffered from Afghanistan — the other two being the third-place playoffs of 2006 and 2008 ACC Trophy.
The only time Nepal beat Afghanistan was in 2004 ACC Trophy but then Afghanistan was just a new entrant to world cricket and Nepal was already an experienced team.
But things are different this time in Kuwait. While Afghanistan narrowly escaped the first-round exit by defeating Malaysia by a run and lost to UAE; Nepal´s progress was steadily built on dynamic form of cricket.
Nepal beat Hong Kong, Oman, Singapore and Kuwait convincingly to enter the semifinal when it survived the Malaysian scare and the semifinal jinx to register an eight-run victory.
On Friday, both teams will be in their full strength as both vice-captains Gyanendra Malla of Nepal and Mohd Nabi of Afghanistan have reached and played well after visa hiccups.
Nabi, the best Afghan cricketer, was man of the match in the semifinal against Hong Kong which they won by 5 wickets.
From WCL Div 5 in Kathmandu, which Nepal won, Paras Khadka´s men are upbeat and playing a confident cricket. The captain, despite his poor form in Kuwait, would like to see the momentum carried on to make him the most successful captain.
Batting had come good as Anil Mandal and Mahesh Chhetri´s opening pair proving vital while middle-order led by Shakti Gauchan, Sharad Vesawkar and Gyanendra is on top form. Dipendra Chaudhary and Mehboob Alam are further down the order making it a strong batting lineup. Bowling had always been a strength of Nepali side.
The formidable batting lineup of Afghanistan and their speedy seamers along with noisy supporters, the final will be a dream contest and the team that plays a better cricket will emerge victorious.
Nepal vs Afghanistan
Total match played: 4 Afghanistan won: 3 Nepal won: 1
2008 WCL Div 5: Afghanistan 142 in 49.3 overs (M Nabi 48, Basant 3/30, Shakti 3/12, Binod 2/22) defeated Nepal 105 all out in 45.5 overs (Mehboob 17, Ahmadzai 3/18, M Nabi 2/15) by 37 runs.
2008 ACC Trophy: Nepal 210/8 (Kaniskha 43, Mahesh 29, Paras 22) lost to Afghanistan 213/7 in 48.2 overs (M Nabi 55, S Samiullah 51, Paras 3/34) by 3 wickets.
2006 ACC Trophy: Afghanistan 270/8 (M Nabi 60, K Sadiq 55, N Mangal 49, A Shah 46, Paras 3/36) defeated Nepal 115/5 in 33.4 overs (Shakti 42, Paras 33*, A Shah 3/33) by 64 runs under Duckworth-Lewis Method.
2004 ACC Trophy: Nepal 147 in 48.2 overs (Paras 34, Mehboob 33, Sharad 28, A Shah 5/14) defeated Afghanistan 100 in 41.2 overs (A Shah 30, N Mangal 28, Raj Kumar 4/21, Paras 2/8, Shakti 2/10) by 47 runs.
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best of luck guys….we are always with you to create a history for Nepalese cricket
Finally the day has come.Alarm set, beers done, day off yes. Ok ,bloody so excited for the final tomorrow. The thing we can do now is wait and see how our team play tomorrow. It is obvious that the team that plays well tomorrow will win. Deserving two teams in the final. And the noise of the crowd in the ground will be fantastic.
The pitch in Kuwait looks to be very dry and is a batting pitch. The spinners and the batters are to do a lot tomorrow wheras the pacers need to get us early wicket when the ball is new, once its get old pacers will be a very little useful. Anyway allthe best to Afghan team as well but as i have always said this time it is ours and our time has started.
Jai Naya Nepal
best of luck Nepal team…..we deserve the trophy…….
Statistics show that we are the underdogs for the final. In papers Afghanistan has a strong team and don’t get me wrong they really have a good team specially after the return of the vice captain. The final is going to be a great match between two non test playing nations!!! I believe that Nepal has every resource to beat Afghanistan this time. They have the strongest batting line up and all the batsmen seem to be in form. The bowlers are doing their job and the fielding has alwasy been good. Only if Nepal believes that they can be No. 1!!! They can win it. They must go in tomorrow feeling that they are the most dominant, and they have all their victories in this tournament to back it. The are undefeated so far in this tour and most of the victories came with complete dominance. Match against Malaysia was shacky but they were a formidable opponent. Atleast they learned a vital lesson on how to bowl to a good team. It is not going to be easy tomorrow but good discipline in bowling and fielding and an excellent batting performance will be the most important part of the game tomorrw. I can only wish all the best to our guys and pray for them. Millions of Nepalis are behind them and rooting for them to win it all this time. Good luck to you guys, God bless you and Gold bless the Republic of Nepal
Jai Nepal
Rakesh Karn
All I can say is “Confidence is Key”. We believe that Nepal can do it, but what do the players believe?
Hey, afg. went on to win some crucial matches, coz of tht we pushed in backfoot from the cricketin world,as nepal was overshadowed like the street dog,that is our flunked past,now the time has come to prove ourself that we rnt dog we r the lion ,who is goin to rule this damn world.Go lion make some roar n let them know who we r n wat we made up from,come on pounce on them , ,suck their blood,gobbled them up n let the world be awaken with ther head bowed
the new cricketin era began as the arrival of new ruler.lets salute our majesty paras n his cabinet.come on CHEERS!CHEERS!!CHEERS!!!
Wish all the best to our team and pray for them. Guys all Nepalese are with u. i request to all Nepalese who r in Kuwait please go to ground and support our team.
If u want to see live text commentary, please log on to http://www.asiancricket.org.
Good luck to you and God bless to team Nepal .
I am sure Nepal will win this acc trophy elite 2010 first time in cricket history of Nepal. Captain paras shouldnot rivise same mistake like as semi-final. I hope binod will be back on final. I think dipendra is not suitable on the final game. Hope opener will be start brillaintly. Anil & sarad will doing good job on final. paras need to believe to fast bowler. Hubara ground is lucky for nepal because Nepal was win last two match in this ground. best of luck
If nepali team batting line-up is like this may be better
1. mahesh
2.Anil
3.Shakti
4.sarad
5.paras
6.gyanendra
7.meheboob
8.basanta
9.binod
10.rahul
11.sanjam
Win it for us guys, for our nation, for our flag, for our identity n pride..
Win it for us guys, for our nation, for our flag, for our identity n pride.. We are not chokers anymore, lets win the battle for the crown now.. We are gorkhalis, we can win..
Its been too long that i waited for this moment and its still about 3 hours far away. So plz hav a good preperation for that to figh hard. We all know that you can beat and you should just believe yourself, gather ur confidence and forget about ur past. You have to just play natural which you guys played in previous matches, just keep continue ur same performance and plzzz plz bring our hot seamer Binod Das. He is not only bowler he is a good batsman as well coz we see in previous matches the ground is not fevourable to spinners. But 2day, lets hope seamers n spinners do well to bundle afghan in low run rate.
COM ON NEPALI THITA HO YESPALI KEHI GARERA DEKHAUNE MAUKA PAKO 6 TESAI CHHADNUHUNNA, TIMIHARU LAI SAMPURNA NEPALIHARUKO ASHIRBAD 6…
A Real Nepali
Uzwal, k ho aja ko republica mata yo article copied n pasted cha ni.. Tmro hard work tini harule free ma utilize gardaicha ki k ho?
I work for Republica.
11 nayan nani hami,cricket khelne gorkhali
charieka moti purba, pachim mahakali
chandra surya boki boki,sansar jitne pran gari
mutu phali khelchau hami,jit ragat le poti poti
pahad tarai stump rakhi,khelne hami bir santati
batsman hamro sagarmatha,australian banchan lala-bala
bahul desh jiti jiti,badchau hami agi agi
1 din king banchau hami,india lai nai pachari
nepali amako pauma rakhi, hamro matha matha ,pratek sansma vanchau hami, jai jai nepal
well, first of all congrats fo reaching the final,…
We deserve the trophy, so guys belive on youself n display ur natural game, thats what we all nepalese fans are expecting from u.
Regarding the changes in the team, i think it will not be fruitful to drop our experienced vetran pacer binod das, he should be brought back in the playing 11. His long experience and superb outswing bowl with the new ball could really push afghans batsman at back foot, so he must b included in the squad.
ALL THE BEST TO WIN THIS TROPHY AND BE PREPARED FOR THE DIV-4 IN AUGUST. I AGAIN WISH U ALL THE BEST!
CHEERS! CHEERS!! CHEERS!!!
make us proud and win our pride.. thats all
Best of luck
Best of Luck team Nepal
Good Luck Guys!
Reduce the match statistics from 3:1 to 3:2.
The day has come to really do something for your motherland.
hei, guys do your best performance this is the last and the very important game for us., any how get the trophy best of luck all the guys. give your best performance . once again best of luck.
Afghans are swines, dogs and sons of bitches.
Hey Rohit, dont comment like that. Anyway they are our neighbours and doing very good in cricket.