India crushed Nepal in their second Group A stage game in Kandy on September 4th in ongoing Asia Cup by 10 wickets in a rain affected encounter by DLS method. With this win, India qualified for the Super 4s stage along with Pakistan.
Nepal was asked to bat first by India captain Rohit Sharma and thanks to brilliant knocks from Aasif Sheikh (58) and Sompal Kami (48), and some poor fielding by India, they put 230 in the board.
In reply, India’s innings was cut to 23 overs and they were given 145 runs to win the game, which they achieved with both openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill hammering unbeaten half-centuries.
After the match, the Nepal team players visited the Indian dressing room. And in a heartwarming gesture, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, and head coach Rahul Dravid felicitated three Nepal players for their wonderful performances after Nepal coach Monty Desai spoke special words for them.
Desai asked the first medal to be presented to Sompal Kami for his contribution of 48-ball 56 on Monday, hitting four and two sixes. The medal was presented by all-rounder Pandya. Kohli presented the 2nd one to Aasif Sheikh, who top-scored for Nepal with 58. Desai went on to state that Kohli is Sheikh's idol.
Dravid presented one medal to Dipendra Singh Airee, who Desai described as the one bringing fielding energy to the side.
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Ravindra Jadeja shared some words of wisdom with the Nepal team as well.
He said: "They were asking us what are our routines prior to a match and the thought process ahead of a big game. So, I told them that I just follow my normal routine, listen to music. I told them to not put too much unnecessary pressure on themselves."
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Nepal skipper Paudel said, "We talked with Rohit and Virat, and they gave (shared) lots of experience with us. This will be very useful for us. Overall I am happy with the performance of the boys, especially with the bat. I think the openers did a very good job. In the middle order, we could have done better. I thought somewhere around 260-270 would have been a good score. If you talk overall, I am happy with the performance.”
In fact, Kohli also gave Nepal pacer Sompal Kami an autograph on his shoes.
Paudel expressed his disappointment that his bowlers didn't get a chance to bowl at Kohli. “We did not get the opportunity to ball against Virat as both the openers (Rohit and Gill) batted till last,” he stated.
(ANI inputs)
