Nepal vs Hong Kong: A test of bench strength

By Shashank Timsina | Posted Posted Mar 09, 2024

Nepal and Hong Kong, China, will take on each other before the Twenty20 Tri-Series on Saturday at Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground. The one-off Twenty20 international is named Friendship Cup.

Papua New Guinea is also in Hong Kong for a Twenty20 Tri-Series, starting on March 10.

Both events will be streamed on Cricket Hong Kong’s official YouTube channel and ICC TV worldwide, except in India. Fan Code will carry the events for Indian territory.

Nepal have a slight edge over Hong Kong in head-to-head winning four out of seven encounters between the two sides.

Nepal have rested six regular players from their squad for this tour. Aasif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, and Kushal Malla are among the missing names.

Nepal’s batting is expected to revolve around captain Rohit Kumar Paudel and Aarif Sheikh. Aarif averaged 39.60 in the away matches against hosts in the shorter format, with 198 runs in 9 innings. Likewise, Rohit’s tally is filled with 182 runs in as many innings in similar circumstances.

Despite the recent criticism buzzing around by netizens, Abinash Bohara is expected to be a key member of Nepal’s bowling group. He is the highest wicket-taker for Nepal in Twenty20 International in the last year, with 27 wickets in 16 innings. Karan KC is heading into the tour in fine form, having picked up six wickets in the recently held Twenty20 Tri-Nation Series in Nepal that included the Netherlands and Namibia.

In the absence of a regular opener, Aasif Sheikh, Binod Bhandari is expected to open the innings along with Kushal Bhurtel for this series.

Babar Hayat is the most prolific batsman in the Hong Kong camp. His last 24 Twenty20 International innings yielded 549 runs. The veteran spinner, Ehsan Khan, will use all his experience against Nepal. The 39-year-old off-break bowler is the highest wicket-taker for Hong Kong in Twenty20 International history, with 78 wickets in 58 innings.