Kingstown, 15 Jun: Skipper Rohit Paudel believes Nepal have done enough in the T20 World Cup to show they belong at the highest level even though they have fallen out of reckoning for Super Eight round.
\nNepal fell agonisingly short of realising their dream of beating a full member side when they lost to South Africa by a mere run in a low-scoring thriller here.
\nWith two runs needed off the last ball, Gulsan Jha (6) was run-out as the Proteas notched up their fourth consecutive win in the tournament.
\n\u201cThe way we played today; it shows that we belong here. The way we bowled and the way we batted also, I think we belong here. This will give good confidence to us for the next game against Bangladesh,\u201d Paudel told the media here after Nepal\u2019s heartbreaking defeat.
\n“I am very proud of the unit, especially the way they played today. The way we bowled in the first innings and the way we batted, especially in the last few moments where we could have capitalised on our side, but it went their way,\u201d he said.
\nPaudel remained nonchalant even though he watched his team coming close to a historic win but failing to get over the line.
\n\u201cI didn’t feel anything. I was just there in the moment,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cEveryone was excited, two runs were needed in two balls. T20 is a fast game. The game shifts with two good balls or even a boundary. Being present is essential, especially in T20, because the momentum shifts a lot,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cWe missed nothing. We played good cricket but still we went on losing side. But overall, we played very well,\u201d Paudel added
\nNepal lost their opener to Netherlands before their game against Sri Lanka was washed out. The would have remained in contention for a Super Eights berth had they defeated South Africa but they will now play for pride.
\n\u201cWe are aware of that situation, especially if we won today’s game, it would be a very clear knockout game for Bangladesh and our games. The next game, we’ll play for pride. We wanted to beat a Test playing country. Eventually, it didn’t happen today so we want to do that in the next game.”
\nPaudel also thanked Nepal\u2019s plethora of fans at each game in this World Cup, which shows the rise in popularity for the game in the Himalayan nation.
\n\u201cWe feel very grateful to them, especially the way they come and support us. We wanted to give a gift to them today, but it didn’t go our way. This exposure will help us in coming matches and if we play regularly these tournaments and these type of games, it will work for us for next games,\u201d he added. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kingstown, 15 Jun: Skipper Rohit Paudel believes Nepal have done enough in the T20 World Cup to show they belong at the highest level even though they have fallen out of reckoning for Super Eight round. Nepal fell agonisingly short of realising their dream of beating a full member side when they lost to South […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-242246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242246\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}