Rohit Paudel: “I thought we did not bowl to our expectations, especially in the middle overs. We could have done better but having said that, they batted really well. We thought anything around 280 to 300 would be a good score but when I saw the wicket later, I felt we were 10 to 15 runs short. Maybe 310 to 315 would have been par. I would say to keep our head high and look forward to the next game against USA.”
Craig Ervine: “We didn’t start really well, dropped catches cost us but credit to the guys for pulling it back. We thought that 280/290 would be chaseable because the wicket looked very nice. We thought there would be a little bit more movement early on but the wicket played really well today. The conditions were very good, their openers batted well but we didn’t take our early chances. Credit to them, they put us under pressure in the early part of their innings. We were just trying to break down into small chunks during the chase, and trying to concentrate on where the gaps are and what the bowlers are trying to do.
I think it’s well played today, rest day tomorrow and a quick turnaround when we play the Netherlands next on Tuesday. I feel pretty ecstatic, we knew it was a decent wicket to bat on so it was about giving ourselves a chance. It’s been really good, leading up to this and scoring some runs. Hopefully, I can continue like this. As a team, we always like to dominate batting second. You look all around the wicket, from the 10 over mark to the 40 over mark, there are five fielders in the ring so there are always boundary options. I thought we were staring down the barrel of 340 but our bowlers did really well to pull things back. I thought 290 was below par.”
Nepal vs Zimbabwe Highlights today, Sunday 18-6-2023. 1st Match, Group A, ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Qualifier, Harare Sports Club.
Toss: Zimbabwe chose to field.
Nepal team: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh †, Bhim Sharki, Rohit Paudel (c), Kushal Malla, Aarif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane.
Zimbabwe team: Joylord Gumbie, Craig Ervine (c), Wessly Madhevere, Sean Williams, Sikandar Raza, Ryan Burl, Clive Madande †, Wellington Masakadza, Richard Ngarava, Tendai Chatara, Blessing Muzarabani.
Head to Head In ODI’s: 0
Nepal Won: 0
Zimbabwe Won: 0
Nepal ODI Rankings: 14th
Zimbabwe ODI Rankings: 11th
Form guide
(last five completed ODI’s, most recent first)
Nepal WWWWL
Zimbabwe WWLLW
Match Timings: 7:00 AM GMT | 9:00 AM Local
Umpires – Allahudien Paleker, Sam Nogajski
TV Umpire – Asif Yaqoob
Match Referee – Graeme Labrooy
Reserve Umpire – Ahmed Shah Pakteen
Match number – ODI no. 4585
