KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 17

Nepal national cricket team head coach Monty Desai said his side was adapting with the procedure to embark on learner's journey with champions' attitude.

Nepal defeated ICC Cricket World Cup League-II champions Scotland by three wickets in the One Day International match at the TU Stadium today and coach Desai lauded his boys after their second consecutive victory.

'I have been saying one thing from the start - we are trying to build a story. And I am happy to see that people [cricketers] are able to dive into their roles,' said Desai.

'They are understanding when to play a lead role, when to play a side role, when to play attacking, and when to be defensive.

It's heartening to see how well they are able to absorb the information and apply that over there [in the match]. So, we are in a learner's journey with the champions' attitude and we want to continue that,' he added. 'It's a great start to the journey.'

Desai lauded the team for recovering well despite losing wickets in the early stage of the run-chase. 'The results show that the mentality and the understanding of how to build the dressing room is evident. We lost a couple of early wickets, but then again, the emphasis of understanding how the dressing room should operate the calmness in the dressing room againwas evident and automatically that energy we could see how it has been transforming to the performances in the centre out there in the partnerships that we achieved. For me it was heartening to see Kushal Malla and the pending partnership to stitch that big partnership and bring us back in the game.

Desai called on the fans to support the team for the remaining matches. 'Come in large numbers to support us. This country loves this game. You all love this game. We need one more country to come up and compete with the best out there in the world.' He also hinted at going with the same squad in the next match against Namibia on Saturday. 'I generally believe in stability. You need to keep on allowing the players to play that role again and again so that they can take the experience on board and keep on improving their games.'

Player of the match Dipendra Singh Airee said he played the role as demanded by the situation.

'It was not a tough one as I played my role. The situation demanded a partnership in the beginning and it was easy thereafter,' he said.

'I enjoy finishing the game, whether I am playing in top order or down. Rather than thinking too much, I just took it as an one-ball battle as instructed by the coach,' Airee added. 'We are treating each of the 12 matches as final and the team's environment at the moment is awesome.'

A version of this article appears in the print on February 18, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.