Ahead his side’s Asia Cup clash against India at Kandy, Nepal skipper Rohit Paudel expressed his team’s excitement to play against Men in Blue and said that they have plans to tackle the team’s star batters, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, terming the former as team’s “inspiration” as well. India will take on Nepal in their Asia Cup clash at Kandy. In Group A, Pakistan qualified for Super Four stage with three points following a win over Nepal and a washout against arch-rivals India, which caused them to share a point each. Now India (1 point) and Nepal (0 points) have to win this match to qualify for Super Four stage.
“We are excited to play against India. India is a big country. We are all excited to represent Nepal against India at the biggest stage,” said the skipper at a pre-match press conference on Sunday.
About tackling Virat and Rohit, Paudel said, “Virat and Rohit have been the stars for their country for over ten years. We have made plans to tackle them and hopefully, we will execute them tomorrow.”
He termed Virat as an “inspiration” for all.
“Virat is an inspiration for all of us, not only for his work ethic but also his discipline, on and off the field,” said the skipper.
Paudel expressed happiness because of fans’ response despite the heavy defeat to Pakistan in the first match, saying that the fans have been extremely encouraging and positive to the team.
“Our players have been working really hard for two or three years. That is why we are here. For the last two three generations, our seniors tried a lot (for big opportunities), we got this opportunity to play. We want to represent them in the match,” he added.
The skipper agreed that a match will India will be a “fanboy moment” for the Nepal team as Men in Blue has a lot of big superstars of the game.
“But on the field, it will be a game that both of us will be wanting to win,” he concluded.
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumraj, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Sanju Samson (travelling reserve).
Nepal: Rohit Paudel (c), Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Bhim Sharki, Kushal Malla, Aarif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi, Pratish GC, Mousom Dhakal, Sundeep Jora, Kishore Mahato, Arjun Saud.
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