Central Broward Regional Park Stadium: Nepal captain Rohit Paudel expressed confidence in his team’s ability to potentially cause an upset against Sri Lanka in their upcoming Men’s T20 World Cup match on Wednesday (IST). He highlighted that past instances of associate teams defeating full members have motivated his side for a win.
While it will be Nepal’s second game, having enjoyed a week’s break after their opening defeat to the Netherlands in Dallas. But, the upcoming match holds greater significance for Sri Lanka, who are on the edge of elimination after suffering defeats in their first two matches.
“The 20 teams are equally balanced. And yeah, (our plans is) just go out and express ourselves. (Watching other upsets) is the motivation for all of us, especially moving forward to tomorrow’s game.
“As a team we believe that we are going to win tomorrow and the way we have been preparing the last couple of months, and the way we have been playing for the last year and a half, I think the belief is always there in their team,” Paudel was quoted by ICC.
Paudel feels the break has helped his side to assess match trends and conditions from the outside looking in. “The gap (between games) is very good, especially to prepare ourselves as you can see after we lost against The Netherlands.
“It’s helpful for us, especially to prepare and adapt to this situation, and I believe that we have utilised the sessions here and we are very well prepared for tomorrow’s game.”
On the other side, Sri Lanka hope the move to Florida will bring a level of clarity to their campaign, reeling from defeats in New York and Dallas. The side also fell to the Dutch in Florida in an official warm-up.
Sri Lanka’s fast bowling coach Aaqib Javed noted that teams are adjusting their strategies, particularly in batting adding that assessing the situation and the conditions are the key in the tournament.
“I think honestly if you look at the pitch (in Lauderhill and reflecting on New York), you have to be very careful especially as batter what to adopt, what to leave out and I think the best plan is to go out there and assessing the situation and the conditions are the key.
“The beauty of this World Cup is that you cannot take easy to anything. We have seen some outstanding results from the Associate teams.”
Nepal will take on Sri Lanka at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, Lauderhill, Florida on Wednesday (as per IST).