Welcome to the first quarterfinal. India are up against Nepal, who had a couple of big wins in the group stages. It's a small ground, so expect another high scorer. Before the World Cup kicks-off, India will be looking forward to cliching a gold medal in the Asian Games. This T20I side is filled with IPL superstars, so all of them have a lot of experience when it comes to playing the shortest format. Nepal have played some impressive cricket by beating Mongolia and Maldives, but today they'll have a tougher challenge against a much stronger opposition. Will they be able to put up a similar performance like they did in their previous two matches? Only time will tell. Stay around for the toss and teams..
Cheers..
Squads:
India Squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma(w), Prabhsimran Singh, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Ravi Bishnoi, Akash Deep
Nepal Squad: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Binod Bhandari(w), Sundeep Jora, Gulsan Jha, Rohit Paudel(c), Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sompal Kami, Abinash Bohara, Sandeep Lamichhane, Karan KC, Lalit Rajbanshi, Pratis GC, Bibek Yadav
India, of course, have the greater pedigree. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad arrives having notched up his maiden ODI fifty, and has been a mainstay for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.
Jitesh Sharma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal are also bona-fide IPL stars, as are Arshdeep Singh and Ravi Bishnoi. Rahul Tripathi played a T20I not long ago for India, while Tilak Varma is being looked upon as the next big thing in India's middle order. Washington Sundar, meanwhile, was part of the last competitive ODI that India played.
Nepal, though, have already played two games at this venue, and might have more know-how about the conditions. In one of those matches, they broke all sorts of records, with Kushal Malla and Dipendra Singh Airee bagging the fastest T20I hundred and fastest T20I fifty, respectively. Skipper Rohit Paudel and Kushal Bhurtel are not shabby with the willow either.
Sandeep Lamichhane remains a wicket-taking threat in the middle overs, with Karan KC capable of being just as incisive with the new ball. Abinash Bohara, while inexperienced, has form on his side, having bagged a six-wicket haul in Nepal's 138-run win against Maldives on Sunday.
Nepal XI: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (wk), Sundeep Jora, Gulsan Jha, Rohit Paudel (c), Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Abinash Bohara, Sandeep Lamichhane
India XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, R Sai Kishore, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh
"How's the weather? " -- Looks clear, at the moment at least and the forecast is quite promising too.
Not many surprises, as far as both teams' playing XIs are concerned. India have plenty of left-handers in their batting line-up, though, with Dube, Jaiswal, Sundar and Tilak all expected to bat in the top six. Gaikwad and Jitesh, who will be making his T20I debut today, are slated to be the only right-handers in the top six. There is a T20I debut for Sai Kishore too.
Karan KC, meanwhile, returns for Nepal having missed the game against Maldives. Nepal would hope that he can get the ball to swing, especially with this being an early-morning start.
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