Sandeep Lamichhane admits Nepal have 'plenty of room' for improvement

Sandeep Lamichhane said Nepal are still looking for answers despite the uplifting end to their Cricket World Cup League 2 tour of UAE.

Aarif Sheikh inspired the Nepal side to a seven-wicket win over Papua New Guinea at the Dubai International Stadium.

The victory arrived on the back of two damaging defeats to the host nation earlier in the tri-series, which had shown up batting issues that have plagued Nepal for some time now.

They responded by dropping former captain Gyanendra Malla, and they thrived in his absence.

Having restricted PNG to 173-8 from their 50 overs, Aarif – who top scored with 59 not out - shared in a stand worth 87 with Kushal Bhurtel, then an unbroken one of 77 with Rohit Paudel. It meant Nepal chased the win with 78 balls to spare.

“Still, there is plenty of room to improve,” Lamichhane, the Nepal captain, said.

“Every day is a new opportunity for us. Even though we won the game, we are definitely going to look at the plans. We have another game coming up in a few days again against PNG [in Kathmandu].

“The coach [Pubudu Dassanayake] and I will sit together and discuss further about things. But this is a perfect way to end this series.”

Given the batting troubles of earlier in the series – Nepal had been bowled out for 103 and 120 by UAE – Lamichhane was delighted by the fight shown against PNG.

“From the start to the way we finished, they all deserve a lot of appreciation,” Lamichhane said of his side’s batters.

“Aarif was given a new role coming in today at No 3. It was a new position for him and the way he batted today and finished the game, it is really nice to see.

“The way Rohit also helped him during the middle overs was really nice.”

Despite the win, Nepal remain sixth in the seven-team