Paras Khadka, the Nepal captain, says the future is bright for his side, after their promising start to life as a one-day international team.
Nepal were granted full ODI status after the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe in March 2018. They drew their maiden series in the Netherlands last summer, and are now a win away from claiming a first series victory, in the UAE.
After losing the first match against UAE at the ICC Academy on Friday, the tourists bounced back to thrash their hosts by 145 runs a day later.
That win was brought about chiefly by a 16-year-old batsman, Rohit Paudel, an 18-year-old leg-spinner, Sandeep Lamichhane, and a 22-year-old seam-bowler, Sompal Kami.
Khadka, 31, said the youthful exuberance of his side augurs well for the future.
“It is fabulous,” Khadka said, ahead of Monday’s series decider at the ICC Academy.
“We just need to get these boys into the cricketing scheme of things where they can play cricket all over the world.
“It is a fact that we have always had talented cricketers, but the exposure hasn’t been enough.
“Hopefully with the ODI status, players will get more opportunities. We have a very young squad and hopefully it is a team that is only going to build up.
“Hopefully in the next two to three years we will have a fantastic unit where everybody is pushing themselves.
“Right now, everyone is very, very keen, everybody wants to perform, and there is a lot of healthy competition within the team itself.
“It is a pathway and we are looking towards the next two to three years. Obviously, right now this series is important, but we are trying to build up and have a pool of 25 to 30 fantastic cricketers who can come in and represent the country at any given time.
“There are exciting times ahead, definitely.”
Who will win the deciding third ODI match between UAE and Nepal in #Dubai on Monday? #UAEvNEP 🏏
— The National Sport (@NatSportUAE) January 27, 2019
