Nepal will take on Hong Kong on the opening day of the ICC World T20 2014 in Bangladesh on Sunday (March 16) to qualify for the tournament’s major group. The second opening match of the tournament will be played at Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong in Bangladesh.
Match will starts at 1:30pm GMT & Star Sports is the official broadcaster of the tournament and it can be watched live on Star Sports TV.
Preview
Hong Kong lost a last-ball thriller to Nepal in the quarter-final of the ICC World Twenty Qualifier UAE 2013 last November, but went on to beat Papua New Guinea by 29 runs to qualify in sixth place for its maiden ICC global event.
Hong Kong may hope for explosive beginning with batsmen Irfan Ahmed and Jamie Atkinson, who scored 241 runs at a strike-rate 115.31 in the qualifying tournament. Hong Kong first became an ICC member in 1969 and played four One-Day Internationals in the Asia Cup tournaments of 2004 and 2008.
Hong Kong and Nepal finished third and fifth in ICC World Twenty20 qualifier 2013 in UAE.
Nepal has won twice in previous Twenty20 meetings with Hong Kong in the past at the 2012 and 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier tournaments.
In the very first match, Paras Khadka hit the highest score for Nepal in T20 matches – 68 from 62 balls. The same match had the third-best figures for Nepal in T20 matches – Chandra Sawad’s 4-24 from four overs.
In their recent meeting, in the qualifying tournament for this event, Nepal won but with the final ball of the match.
Irfan Ahmed of Hong Kong has recorded the two highest scores in T20 matches (100 against Canada in November 2013 and 91 not out against Denmark in March 2012).
Player to Watch
Irfan opens the batting for Hong Kong and if his bowling too makes way, then he may win the team to clear the qualifying round ultimately.
Otherwise, Nepal’s Khadka is worth watching in the series as he enjoys playing against Hong Kong – he hit 68 in the past and repeat of the feat may win Nepal the next slot.
TEAMS
Hong Kong: Jamie Atkinson (C), Waqas Barkat, Mark Chapman, Irfan Ahmed, Nadeem Ahmed, Haseeb Amjad, Tanwir Afzal, Babar Hayat, Nizakat Khan, Aizaz Khan, Najeeb Amar, Ehsan Nawaz, Roy Lamsam, Kinchit Shah and Munir Dar.
Nepal: Paras Khadka (C), Gyanendra Malla, Sharad Vesawkar Sompal Kami Shakti Gauchan Basant Regmi Binod Bhandari Pradeep Airee Naresh Budayair, Sagar Pun, Jitendra Mukhiya, Rahul Vishwakarma, Subash Khakurel, Avinash Karn and Amrit Bhattarai.
