Kathmandu, April 15

Nepal national cricket team looked confident as they wrapped up the preparation to face Namibia in the ICC World Cricket League Championship matches.

Coach Jagat Tamatta and skipper Paras Khadka were well aware of the importance of the third-round matches slated for Saturday and Monday at the Tribhuvan University Stadium. “We are at a crucial phase of the WCL Championship and we need to win these two matches to stay in the race,” said Tamatta, who is in his first WCL assignment as a head coach.

Former head coach Pubudu Dassanayake has been helping Tamatta as a consultant coach for the matches, while former India Test player Venkatapathy Raju has been named as the team manager. Raju was appointed as the advisor of the selection panel before he got the new role.

Nepal — who lost to Scotland and Papua New Guinea in the first two rounds — are at the bottom of the eight-team table with four defeats in as many matches, while Namibia are sixth with two points.

Tamatta has a strong belief in his team and said the players were pumped up to perform in front of the home crowd. “We trained for around 30 days and all the team members have put in a lot of hard works during that period. We are confident that the players will execute the plans on the field,” said Tamatta. “And playing in front of the home crowd is always an added advantage,” he added.

Tamatta said the team was aware of the strength and weakness of the opponents and believed the home condition would favour the Nepali team. “We have studied the opponent team thoroughly and prepared strategies to thwart the visitors’ game plans,” he said. “We will go into the match with Plan A and if that does not work we are ready with Plan B and Plan C as well. I think we do not need to worry too much as we have played so many matches at the TU Stadium that we know the pitch behaviour very well,” he added.

Tamatta said vice-captain Gyanendra Malla and Naresh Budhayer would open the innings in the absence of Subash Khakurel and Anil Mandal. “Opening pair has always been a headache for Nepal and this time around both Subash and Anil got injured in training. But we are ready to go ahead with Gyanendra and Naresh, who have opened in previous tournaments. And we have adequate depth in batting,” he added.

Skipper Khadka said the team was raring to go into the field and get some points on the board. “The preparation phase is over now. Time has come to perform on the field,” said Khadka. “From the last two outings, we have learnt that we need to wait until the final ball as anything can happen in this level of the game,” said Khadka, referring to the match against Scotland which Nepal lost despite being in strong position. “All the teams are equally good and we are not going to take Namibia lightly. We need to give our best as we are in do-or-die situation,” he added.

Khadka reiterated that playing in front of home crowd would motivate the players to do well and hoped the team members execute the assignments given to them. “Everybody knows their roles well and it is just like going into the field and completing the tasks,” he said. “We are playing at home for the first time in six-seven years and opportunities like these do not come often. So I urge the players to give their best,” he said. Khadka rated spin attack as the team’s key. “Spin bowlers have been our main weapon in the past and it will be the same against Namibia matches. But at the same time we are also aware that TU wickets are unexpected at times and we are prepared for all sorts of challenges,” the skipper said.