Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed banged magnificent centuries to give Nepal a target of 343 as the home team grabbed up an astonishing win by restricting Nepal to just 104 under 23.4 overs. What went wrong for the inexperienced Nepal side during the game? What are the positives and negatives they are going to carry out from it? Let's analyze the topic.

Toss:

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bat first. It seemed like Nepal wanted to have a bat first too after listening to the post match conference of Nepal coach Monty Desai as it seemed to have a batting friendly pitch with flat wickets.

Outstanding First 8 overs:

Nepal opened their bowling spells with Sompal Kami and Karan KC duo where they got two crucial wickets of Imam Ul Haq and Fakhar Zaman. They were bowling wicket to wicket in the body line with good line and length. Aarif Sheikh had dropped a catch in the powerplay in the bowling of Kami. When they were giving enough room to the opposition and bowling in leg side, few boundaries were given but they stuck to their line and length. So, all the credit goes to Karan KC and Sompal Kami.

Impressive Two Run Outs:

It was a magnificent direct hit throw from skipper Rohit Paudel to dismiss in form Imam Ul Haq and another one from Dipendra Sing Airee to dismiss Mohammad Rizwan. The run out of Rizwan was a silly one since he hadn't worn a helmet due to spinners taking charge by which he wanted to protect himself of possible injury from the throw which cost Pakistan a crucial wicket.

Very Poor Fielding:

Nepal had the second most runs given in overthrows, catches and other fielding aspects during the recently concluded World Cup Qualifiers. The same performance on the field was displayed in the match between Nepal and Pakistan. We cannot blame strong oppositions for fielding aspects as it depends on the players fitness, athletics and practices and not the oppositions. There was a lack of diving efforts at some moments too. Almost 40-50 runs came from the misfielding aspect and there are no excuses for this disaster fielding performance from the Nepal side.

Poor Captaincy:

During the match, Sompal and Karan were building up enough pressure on the opposition in the first eight overs. When the bowlers were building up pressure, Paudel changed the bowlers to Lalit Rajbanshi and Gulshan Jha by which the momentum got lost. He should have at least provided another over each to Sompal Kami and Karan KC.

Another issue to point out in Rohit Paudel’s captaincy is that why was the second best economy bowler Karan KC still got an over left with 50 overs played? He gave Kushal Bhurtel who wasn't typically a bowler an over but he couldn't manage full 10 overs to a lower economy bowler in the whole match. The explanation for this is still unknown.

Consistent Problems in the Death Bowling:

DS Airee was only trying to bowl yorker length bowls which was implemented perfectly by Iftikhar Ahmed through boundaries. He should have bowled wicket to wicket instead of going for this like that of what Rajbanshi did. Lalit Rajbanshi too, on the other side needed variations since the bowl wasn't turning that much. Nepal conceded almost 50 runs from poor fielding which builded pressure and made them try new deliveries to bowl and that pressure moment wasn't flowing. 

The starting of Nepal has always been very good but it goes off track by the end just like that of the games against West Indies in the WC qualifiers. They should bring continuity and consistency here. They need to work on this problem. 

2nd Innings:

Facing World Class Bowlers:

The world class bowlers like Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf were brought in the first phases which was hard to tackle for such an inexperienced side like Nepal. The players of Nepal aren't much familiar with such deliveries of consistent speed of 140 kilometres per hour and above. The commentator talked about the slower ball Naseem Shah bowled that was 128 kmph which was the average speed of Nepali bowlers. Undoubtedly, it was hard for Nepali batters to survive this pace bowling attack.

Good Partnership After Third Wicket:

Sompal Kami was promoted to the upper order where he showed brilliant performance with the bat. He should have some classical drives and defences throughout his innings. Analysing his drives, he doesn't go much forward to drive but just puts his front leg on the line of the ball and transfers weight impressively to hit the ball through covers. It was  a commendable batting display by him.

Not to miss out, Aarif played some innovative shots and built the innings perfectly too. He focused on single doubles which is very crucial in ODIs. Aarif and Sompal added 50+ runs partnership to build the innings. It was a commendable performance by both of them in this world class pace attack.

Poor Shot Selections:

Talking about the dismissal of Nepalese opener Kushal Bhurtel, he nicked a 5th or 6th stump ball which wasn't a sign of good shot selection.

Aasif Sheikh was eyeing some classy shots too. One of the shots in mid-on that went for four was a perfectly timed classy shot too. Thereafter, he nicked a ball in first slip while trying to play in the covers.

Aarif Sheikh seemed uncomfortable in 148 kph bowling of Haris Rauf in which he moved away from the ball and was beaten by pace to get bowled out.

Lack of Temperament:

Gulshan Jha, Dipendra Singh Airee and Kushal Malla overally played only 38 balls which was in the average spin attack and wasn't much threatening. They didn't build up the innings and seemed in a hurry which isn't a sign of showing temperament. Temperament is how players will play under more pressure which was lacking by the young Nepali batters. They lacked temperament since they aren’t used to playing on such big occasions.

Unplayable Pace Attacks:

The same bowl Shaheen Afridi bowled in the dismissal of Rohit Paudel took the wickets of many world class batsmen like KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and many more. It is very hard to play such inswinging balls from a left arm pacer.

Sompal Kami had nicked through the keeper on a brilliant delivery. The thing is Nepal hasn't had many matches with this type of bowling attack. Similar thing happened with Sompal as he hadn't tackled or faced such delivery in the past. It's not like it was a bad shot but the inexperience that comes with it.

Conclusion:

Nepal was bowled out on 104 in just 23.4 overs which is the lowest score ever in the past 30 years in Asia Cup’s ODI history for any associate nations against Pakistan. Nepal didn't even bat for 25 overs. They could have gotten at least up to 40 overs if they had focused more on building the innings up. They need to focus more on building up partnerships rather than playing risky shots in a hurry in this type of format. 

It sums up to the answer of whether Nepal had been successful enough to deliver impressive performance is a ‘No’ for now. It is obviously not the best of the performances from among the associate nations playing in the Asia cup too.

However, Nepal is still to play with India on September 4. There are several things to learn from this game and improve more. 

Moreover, Nepal can observe the match between India and Pakistan in the same venue where Nepal will be playing against India. Hopefully, they will analyse the weak points and strengths of India to be followed up in the next match. 

Qualifying for such a big event like Asia Cup and playing against number 1 ODI side is not an easy thing to do for a 15th ODI side but the efforts they have put in is very commendable. This type of opportunity builds growth and chances for performing against such big nations again in future. Hopefully, they’ll learn a lot and implement those experiences and deliver more impressive performances in future matches.