Run rate not the top priority for Nepal

Coach Pubudu Dassanayake's men need to beat Hong Kong to enter semi-finals of ACC Trophy.

Nepal, in blue, defeated Saudi Arabia by nine wickets in Abu Dhabi. Christopher Pike / The National

ABU DHABI // Permutations will not be in the mind of the Nepal players when they take the field against Hong Kong in their final Group B game in the ACC Trophy tomorrow.

Victory is the first objective according to Pubudu Dassanayake, the Nepal coach, whose side must win if they are to have any chance of reaching the semi-finals of the tournament.

They meet Hong Kong, who are on equal points at the Global Cricket Academy grounds in Dubai and the winner will join the UAE in the last-four stage. A big victory could see them usurp the hosts at the top of the group and avoid a last-four encounter with the tournament favourites Afghanistan.

Dassanayake said his side were taking things one step at a time and were not thinking about the semi-finals.

"We need to win first and then we'll see if we can go on and achieve the run rate we require to top the group," he said.

Nepal showed the form they will need to beat Hong Kong as they thumped Saudi Arabia by nine wickets yesterday at the Zayed Cricket Stadium yesterday.

They made their intentions clear when chasing a target of 132 by knocking off the winning runs in 13.1 overs.

Gyanendra Malla hit 61 not out and shared an undefeated 81-run partnership for the second wicket with the opener Subash Khakurel (35 not out).

Malla's 23-ball knock included 13 boundaries and one six.

"It panned out well for us today," the coach said. "We wanted to keep the run rate up because it may help us when it comes down to a situation when the top team in the group will have to be decided on a better run-rate."

Nepal had started the tournament by beating the UAE, but the defeat to Kuwait has left them in a shoot-out with Hong Kong, something Dassanayake laments.

"That was a real bad game and put us in this must win situation against Hong Kong," he said.

Dassanayake took charge of Nepal last October, and he is enjoying his time at the helm.

"I am glad to work with a talented and committed bunch of young cricketers," he said.

"They are keen to learn and put in 100 per cent to improve their skill levels.

"Of course a lot of improvement has to come in to develop the sport but we can take some satisfaction from what we have achieved and the growth in the past one year.

"I always believe in fitness and we have been working over a 10-month period since I took charge last October. The players are also mentally tougher than they were and that we could see from how they have been playing in this tournament.

Dassanayake, who was the coach of Canada from 2007 to 2011, led Nepal to the ICC Division-4 title last month.

They finished seventh in the 16-team World Twenty20 qualifier staged in the UAE last year.

"We came as the 16th ranked team for the T20 qualifiers and finished seventh," he said.

"These are the positives we can take forward. We have been playing good cricket and I will be disappointed if we don't make it to the last-four stage."

The UAE completed their group stage matches yesterday with a resounding 141-run win over Kuwait to head the points standing in Group B.

They scored an imposing 353 in their 50 overs courtesy of five half centuries from the openers Abdul Shakoor (79) and Arshad Ali (70), and the middle-order batsmen Saqib Ali (78), Rohan Mustafa (60) and Mohammed Azam (51).

Shakoor and Arshad, the UAE’s opening pair, gave a flying start to their innings.

They put on 116 in 88 balls for the first wicket with Shakoor being the more adventurous, hitting a flurry of boundaries and maximums as the Kuwaiti bowling attack were put to the sword.

Despite their success the UAE will have to wait for the final Group B game between Nepal and Hong Kong tomorrow to see if they will still be in top spot in the group to avoid a meeting with Afghanistan, the defending champions and favourites.

Malaysia stayed on course to qualify behind Afghanistan from Group A, as they comfortably beat the Maldives by seven wickets in their clash yesterday.

Muhammed Anwar, the 16-year-old left-arm spinner, took a first class career best of five for 27 from 10 overs to bowl out the Maldives for 146. It took his tally to 10 wickets from three games.

They play Bhutan, who are winless in three games, in their final game tomorrow in Abu Dhabi.

Afghanistan completed their group matches with another resounding win over Bhutan.

Sayed Shirzad grabbed five for 13 from 5.4 overs to dismiss Bhutan for 102 and Nawroz Mangal struck seven fours and three sixes for a 40-ball 58 not out as Afghanistan hit the winning runs in just 13.2 overs.

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