Nepali national cricket team will be under pressure to deliver results when they take on hosts United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the second leg match of the UAE Series under the ICC World Cup League Two at the Dubai International Stadium on Monday.

Having succumbed to a 40-run defeat in their chase of a moderate 169 runs target against the hosts on Friday, Nepal's batting lineup will again be under the spotlight. Nepal had seen a dramatic collapse in the game losing the last six wickets for just 38 runs.

Though Nepal had edged Papua New Guinea (PNG) by two wickets in the opening match on Wednesday, the team's shaky batting lineup was exposed in the game as well. Nepal were restricted to 4-42 moments before Rohit Paudel and Aasif Sheikh's 100-run partnership lifted the team.

Apart from the UAE, Nepal are also scheduled to play against the PNG in their last match of the UAE series on Tuesday. Nepal currently sit sixth in the seven-team standings with 10 points from five wins and defeats each. The UAE are second with 20 points from 17 matches while Oman lead the standings with 36 points from 28 games.

PNG are at the bottom of the table and they opened the account at the points table after a stunning six-wicket victory over the UAE on Saturday. PNG were defeated by both Nepal and the UAE in their first two games. Each team will play 36 matches at the completion of League 2 cycle, with the top three teams qualifying for the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers.

Similar to Nepal, hosts UAE will also come with must win ambition with the view to make up for an upset against the PNG. They, however, have also struggled with bat in the last two games–managing 168 runs against Nepal on Friday and posting a meagre total of 147 runs against the PNG on Saturday.

After his side's struggle with the bat in the last game against the UAE, Nepal captain Sandeep Lamichhane had said: "It is now time to rethink batting. Our batting has not been working for a while, including the recent tournaments. It’s time to explore where we are lacking. There are certain areas we need to improve now. Definitely we will try to come back stronger in our next fixtures."

The opening pair of batters Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh have been struggling for consistency and the batting pressure could be eased should the duo make a decent start. Former captain Gyanendra Malla and all-rounder Dipendra Singh Airee are among the other top-order batters.

Middle-order batter Rohit Paudel has been a consistent performer in the last two games scoring 60 runs against the PNG and 46 against the UAE in the last two games.

Pacers Sompal Kami and Karan KC along with captain Lamichhane will take charge of the bowling unit.