T20 WC: West Indies opt to bowl against Nepal, Forde comes in for Shepherd

Mumbai: West Indies won the toss and elected to bowl against Nepal in their Group C game of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the iconic Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Two dominant victories over Scotland and England have propelled the West Indies to the top of the table, leaving them on the brink of a Super 8s spot.

Nepal, in contrast, remain without points after a narrow four-run loss to England and a heavy 10-wicket defeat to Italy, making this fixture crucial for their hopes. After winning the toss, Windies skipper Shai Hope said, “ Look, a little bit of moisture in the surface, probably a little bit more damp than we expected, so try to utilise as much as we can.

(How to keep the same intensity?) You just said it, we just need to do the same thing. It’s important for us to ensure that we cover all our bases. We understand the threat that they can pose. So it’s important that we just focus on our processes and hit all the straps that we can. Yes, one change. Shepherd out, Matthew Forde comes in. Slight little niggle, Shepherd’s been struggling a little bit, but we just want to make sure precautionary measures are being put in place, and Forde can come in and do the job.

So we’re very happy to give him some rest today.” Nepal captain Rohit Paudel, meanwhile, stated, “We also wanted to bowl, but we have to take the toss out of the equation. Batting first is a difficult task, but we have to follow our process and bat as long as we can. I thought we did well in the first six overs, but we struggled in the middle overs when we wanted to stretch the partnership.

Our lower middle order didn’t work the way we wanted, so we want to correct that today. Yes, Sompal Kami comes in for Lalit Rajbanshi. Not much, but the wicket looks good and I think Sompal will be much more effective here.”

Playing XIs: West Indies: Shai Hope (c & wk), Brandon King, Shimron Hetmyer, Roston Chase, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Jason Holder, Matthew Forde, Gudakesh Motie, Akeal Hosein, Shamar Joseph Nepal: Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh (wk), Rohit Paudel (c), Dipendra Singh Airee, Aarif Sheikh, Lokesh Bam, Gulshan Jha, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Nandan Yadav, Sandeep Lamichhane