Fanboying can wait until after game, Rohit Paudel says ahead of clash with Virat Kohli

When Nepal beat the weather and the UAE to win a place at the Asia Cup for the first time, back in May, their captain was asked about what was to come.

Three names were listed: Babar Azam, Virat Kohli, Rohit Paudel. What is it going to feel like for him to be mixing in such gilded company?

Paudel smiled coyly and spoke respectfully about what it meant to play alongside greats of the game.

Four months on, the Babar box has already been ticked. And, it turns out, the Pakistan captain is everything he is cracked up to be, and more.

His 151 in the opening game of the Asia Cup in Multan last week blew Nepal away on their long-awaited Asia Cup debut.

Next up, that man Kohli, in Pallekele on Monday. Again, Paudel was full of praise for the biggest star of an Indian batting line up that is basically a galaxy of them.

He said Kohli is an inspiration for him and all his colleagues because of the discipline he shows on and off the field.

But, he says, his players cannot be in awe of any of the opposition players once the game starts.

“It will feel like that, but once you go the ground to start the game it becomes a game that everybody wants to win,” Paudel said.

“It might be a fanboy moment when the game finishes if we get an opportunity to talk to the senior players from India. We can learn from them.”

Memories of that ACC Premier Cup final win over the UAE might stand Nepal in good stead when they face India.

That game, in front of a frenetic crowd in Kathmandu, was heavily rain-affected. Thousands watched the rain fall from under umbrellas on the grass banks at Tribhuvan University, in a game that needed a reserve day to settle it.

There are also uncovered grass banks square of the wicket at the scenic Pallekele ground, which is