"He has 8 four-wicket hauls in a 49-match career" - Aakash Chopra picks Sandeep Lamichhane as one of Nepal's strengths heading into Asia Cup 2023
Aakash Chopra has picked Sandeep Lamichhane's potent bowling as one of Nepal's strengths heading into Asia Cup 2023.
The continental event will be played in the ODI format in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from Wednesday, August 30. Nepal are placed alongside India and Pakistan in Group A and will face the Men in Green in the tournament opener in Multan.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that Lamichhane's wicket-taking ability is a huge asset for Nepal. He elaborated:
"In the spin department, they have a wicket-taking bowler, goes by the name of Sandeep Lamichhane. He has played 49 matches and has picked up 111 wickets in them. He has a best of 6/11 and the economy rate is 4.27. He has eight four-wicket hauls (apart from two six and a five-wicket haul) in a 49-match career. Sandeep Lamichhane's performances have been incredible."
The former Indian opener reckons a settling batting unit is Nepal's strength as well. He explained:
"Their batting unit is settled because they have been playing with almost the same team for the last year or so. If you play together continuously for a year, you know each others' weaknesses and strengths and understand very well how to build the innings."
Chopra added that the Himalayan nation also possess variety in their attack. He pointed out that while the likes of Gulsan Jha, Dipendra Singh Airee and Sompal Kami are good seam-bowling options, Lalit Rajbanshi will likely assist Lamichhane in the spin-bowling department.
"Never played with the same pace-bowling unit in consecutive matches in the last 10 ODIs" - Aakash Chopra on Nepal's weaknesses
![Karan KC was one of the star seamers for Nepal in the World Cup qualifiers. [P/C: ICC]](https://statico.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/04/eea63-16494933161435-1920.jpg?w=500)
Aakash Chopra picked instability in the seam-bowling department as one of Nepal's weaknesses. He observed:
"Never played with the same pace-bowling unit in consecutive matches in the last 10 ODIs. The same five bowlers don't play consistently and that is why probably they don't have that much stability in the bowling department. I am talking about the pace-bowling unit, you will still get the same spinners."
The cricketer-turned-commentator feels the lack of top-level experience is the Rohit Paudel-led side's other weakness. He stated:
"Don't have experience of playing against big teams. This is going to be another problem, which you can see as a weakness because they haven't played at this level. I was talking to Paras Khadka (former Nepal captain) and he said it would be enough if they give fight to the opposition team."
Chopra concluded by urging Nepal to push both India and Pakistan and beat potentially beat one of them as well. He added that if they can pull off an upset of gigantic proportions by beating Pakistan in the Asia Cup opener, Babar Azam and Co. will have all to play for when they lock horns with India.