After Nepal’s historical win against UAE in the three-day match, NepalCricket.com talked with Roy Dias, Syed Abid Ali and Binod Das about the match’s various aspects.
Roy Dias
Coach – Nepal
About the victory
“Beating UAE is very, very important. We have never beaten them.”
“They are superior side and this win proves that we can beat any team.”
“It’s a great thing. I am very, very happy. This is a feather in my career with Nepal. The only disappointing thing is we didn’t qualify for the ICC InterContinental Cup semis.”
Reasons for victory
“We batted very well. We had a lot of partnerships.”
“UAE were not positive at the field.”
Hope before the match
“I had not really hopes for the win because we lost in one and half day last time.”
Meaning of the win
“It’ll boost Nepal’s cricket, make cricket popular among people because they want to see wins.”
About the crowd support
“Fantastic.”
“Nepal is only non-Test playing nation that gets such support.”
“I must thank them but also want to tell them that Nepal can’t continue winning all time, what I hope is they will continue the support even when we are not winning.”
Syed Abid Ali
Coach, UAE
About the match
“Nepal played really well and positively for all three days. You guys will go a long way ahead.”
“You have a much improved side.”
“We played too negatively, we were lucky to get half-a-point more to reach the semifinal but we were playing like a novice team.”
Binod Das
Captain, Nepal
About the match
“Overall, excellent performance. We played very well for all three days in all three departments.”
About the win
“I am very happy to defeat the top non-Test playing nation. We were prepared and mentally tough this time to avenge the last year’s defeat.”
Reasons for win
“Batting. It was excellent in first innings. We weren’t batting well in earlier games. Credit goes to Sarad, Kaniska and Shakti – they batted exceptionally well at the wicket that was really hard to play on.”
About his bowling
“For last one year, I am getting wickets and I have always done well against UAE. I was hopeful.”