ACC Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup: Nepali women Cricket team leaves for China

Nepal will look to play competitive cricket against the likes of Test playing nations when the ACC Women’s Twenty20 Asia Cup begins from October 24 in Guangzhou‚ China. Nepal Cricket team leaves for china today.
Nepal is drawn in Group ‘B’ with Test nations Sri Lanka‚ Bangladesh and hosts China where one loss could knock them out. The Group ‘A’ features India‚ Pakistan‚ Thailand and Hong Kong. The senior team is playing in their first international event 20 months after finishing fourth in 2011 ACC Twenty20 Championship in Kuwait.
After Kuwait event‚ the Nepali women have so far played two national-level events — sixth National Games that ended in March and recently concluded Women’s National Twenty20. Since the team only completed 13-day training before leaving for China today‚ Nepal’s coach Samson Jung Thapa has no ambitious target. 

“We will try to give our best. We are playing against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka‚ while as hosts China will get a lot of advantage. The Asia Cup is a good opportunity to prove ourselves‚” said Thapa. The coach knew his team will have to come with an upset result to fancy any chance of progressing to the semi-finals.
“Every match is going to be final for us. There is no point of taking China lightly because they are the ACC Women’s Twenty20 Championship finalists. We have to come with an upset win to reach the semi-finals‚” he added. China finished second after losing to Hong Kong in ACC Twenty20 Championship where Nepal had lost to Thailand in the third place playoff.
The coach is expecting a lot from his allrounders. “Girls like Roshani (Bohora)‚ Nary (Thapa)‚ Neera (Rajopadhyaya)‚ Sarita (Rana Magar)‚ Rubina (Chhettri) and Sita (Rana Magar) can bat well and do better with bowling. If they play to their potential‚ anything is possible‚” he added.
Neera — who was the part of the team that finished runners-up in the ACC Women’s Tournament in 2007 in Malaysia — was excited. “Asia Cup is a big opportunity for us as we are playing against some tough teams in the world. We are ready to fight against them‚” Neera said.
“We let them play nine matches here (TU grounds) in the centre wicket which will help a little bit. The training has also been better. We can expect a better display from them‚” said assistant coach.