Regular Nepali Batting Opener Kushal Bhurtel who is constantly struggling with his poor batting performance is yet to end his long streak of low score.
Kushal Bhurtel registered yet another single-digit score of just 2 runs in 8 deliveries in the which somehow takes part in the reason for Nepal’s defeat against West Indies after they failed to chase down the total of 160 and fell short by just 10 runs.
Kushal Bhurtel’s poor performance as an opener was a big headache for Nepal’s management ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup However he is included in the squad for T20 World Cup and Management is looking in no mood to rest the opener for more matches as he is included again in the Playing 11 after geting rest in the 3rd T20 vs West Indies.
Kushal Bhurtel has been struggling since the ACC Premier Cup. Bhurtel has played 6 matches in the ACC Premier Cup and has scored just 68 runs in 6 matches.
He had registered 3 back-to-back ducks in the last 3 games he played in the ACC Premier Cup.
Here’s the score of Kushal Bhurtel in the ACC Premier Cup.
| S.N | VS | Balls | Runs | Nepal’s Reults |
| 1 | Malaysia | 24 | 24 | WON |
| 2 | Qatar | 11 | 12 | WON |
| 3 | Hong Kong | 19 | 32 | WON |
| 4 | Saudi Arabia | 2 | 0 | WON |
| 5 | UAE | 1 | 0 | LOST |
| 6 | Hong Kong | 2 | 0 | LOST |
| 7 | West Indies (1st T20) | 12 | 16 | WON |
| 8 | West Indies (2nd T20) | 8 | 2 | LOST |
| 9 | West Indies (4th T20) | 5 | 1 | LOST |
Nepal lost to UAE in the semi-final which ended the dream of millions of Nepali cricket fans to see their players competing against Asia and Pakistan in the T20 format Asia Cup.
Nepal also lost to Hong Kong while competing for the 3rd position in the table.
Besides Kushal Bhurtel’s poor batting performance against Associate cricket teams, He is backed by the management and included in the squad and Playing 11 of the first match against West Indies.
Though Nepal won the match by four wickets while chasing the target of 205 runs with 2 balls remaining, Kushal Bhurtel was still scoring below 20 runs i.e. just 16 runs in 12 deliveries.
Rohit Paudel’s Century against West Indies A played huge role in leading Nepal off with a win against the mighty Indies in the 1st match of West Indies tour of Nepal.
Nepal lost the third T20 match against West Indies which was led by Dipendra Singh Airee by 76 runs while chasing the huge target of 227 runs
Nepal lost the Nepal vs West Indies A series after they failed to chase down the target of 210 runs managing to score only 181 runs as Rohit Paudel smashed third half century against West indies but was lone warrior in the crease and Nepal lost the series by 3-1 with 1 match still remaining.
Bhurtel was given more opportunity to get back into his form as he was again included in the playing 11 in the fourth match against West Indies. No doubt Kushal Bhurtel is a consistent opener along with Aasif Sheikh but he is yet to get a spark to get back into his form.
The good side of Bhurtel is he has bagged 2 big wickets against the mighty West Indies giving away just 22 runs with an economy of 5.5 with his bowling but failed to perform with the bat departing yet again for just 2 runs in 8 deliveries.
Kushal Bhurtel again bowled brilliantly yet again in the 4th match against West Indies picking up 2 wickets and conceded 23 runs in his 4-over spell with an economy of 5.75 but again failed with the bat for Nepal scoring just a single in 5 balls.
Nepal lost the second T20 match against West Indies as they fell short by just ten runs while chasing the par total of 160 in the TU international ground Kirtipur.
Dipendra singh Airee who was looking strong also failed to assist Rohit Paudel that cost the game for Nepal as the Indies pulled away game from the jaws of defeat against Nepal.
In the first match against West Indies, Nepal won by 4 wickets chasing the massive target of 205 runs by the brilliant Century of Rohit Paudel and the finishing touch by Gulshan Jha.
Poor performance from Bhurtel is getting a headache and looks like he is in desperate need of space for a few days as work-load management and to get mentally prepared for the game as he is the key performer for Nepal and his stats (87 runs in 9 matches) in the last 8 matches doesn’t show the real potential of Kushal Bhurtel.
What’s your opinion about Kushal Bhurtel? Can he regain his form again before the T20 World Cup Comments your opinions below?