Kathmandu, October 8

Nepal national cricket team will play against Pakistan in a practice match in Abu Dhabi next month, ahead of their World Cricket League Championship matches.

This is the first time Nepal national team is playing a Test-playing nation in 50-over format of the game. Nepal have, however, played against matches the Test-playing nations in age-level tournaments and in Twenty20 format.

The match between Nepal and Pakistan is scheduled for November 8 at the Abu Dhabi2 grounds. Pakistan will be in the UAE for their home series against England from October 13 to November 30, while Nepal will fly to Abu Dhabi for the WCL Championship matches against Papua New Guinea slated for November 16 and 18.

The WCL Championship matches were originally scheduled to be held in Kathmandu but the ICC shifted the fixtures to the UAE because of poor preparation.

National team head coach Pubudu Dassanayake said the match was an opportunity for the team to impress the world. “We cannot predict anything about the match at this moment because we even have not started the preparation,” he said. But winning every game from here is important for us and we need to impress the cricketing world by playing quality cricket against Pakistan,” added Dassanayake.

In the run up to the WCL Championship matches against PNG, Nepal will play two-day match against Hong Kong on November 5-6 before taking on Pakistan two days later. Nepal will then play against a local team Danube on November 10 and face Oman on November 14. Oman and Hong Kong will be in the UAE during that time for a triangular Twenty20 series also involving Afghanistan as part of their preparation for the World Twenty20.

National team skipper Paras Khadka said the match against Pakistan would be a great exposure and experiment for the team. “We got to more and more against better teams to develop out skills,” said Khadka.

“And I hope this is the beginning of many more to come,” he added. Asked about the WCL matches, Khadka said: “Every game is important in WCL Championship and we need to win both matches against PNG as we have to gather as many points as possible.” Nepal lost both of their matches against Scotland in the first WCL Championship outing in July.