Nepal will open their campaign against Oman in an unfamiliar pitch and different conditions during the US Triangular Series of the ICC World Cup League 2 at the Moosa Cricket Stadium in Pearland, Texas, on Thursday.

Despite facing the leaders Oman and plagued by injuries of both openers, Nepal's coach Pubudu Dassanayake and captain Sandeep Lamichhane were both upbeat about Nepal's prospect in the game. The hot and humid weather and a different wicket condition will be among the major challenges for Nepal.

The game will kick off at local time 10:30 am and Nepali standard time 21: 15 pm.

While Nepal are sixth in the seven team League 2 standing with 12 points from as many matches, Oman lead the standing and will be playing their last Series of the tournament. They have 40 points from 32 matches. The top three teams at the end of the Series will directly qualify for the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers in June and July and top five teams will retain the ODI status. The bottom four will have to go through a playoff involving six teams for a place in Qualifiers.

Nepal arrived in Houston 10 days before the tournament to acclimatise with the condition. They played two practice matches against local sides and also held training sessions at the Prairie View ground, but they would be playing at the centre wicket of the Moosa ground for the first time against Oman. Nepal held their training session at the Moosa training ground for the second time on Wednesday.

"We are ready for the game and it is totally different. The boys got time to adjust to the time difference and heat. The condition in the batting pitch is also different from where we practice in Kathmandu," said Dassanayake.

"At the moment, everybody is comfortable and knows what to expect in the big games. We are ready to play our best cricket on Thursday," added Dassanayake, who was the coach of the US national team from 2016 to 2019. "Wickets are not that friendly for fast bowlers. There is nothing for fast bowlers on this wicket. There's a little bit for spinners. I will say these types of wickets are ideal for us than any other team."

Captain Sandeep Lamichhane said that wicket condition does not matter much for top class bowlers. "The wicket condition would be the same for both the teams because if our spinners can't perform well the spinners of the other teams will also have difficulty," said Lamichhane.

"We are gradually getting used to the US conditions. We got great outcomes in the last practice match (against Houston Hurricanes) both in bowling and batting. There are still few patches but we will definitely love to move forward with good reasons," added Lamichhane.

Nepal had won the second practice match by 29 before losing against Nepal All Stars by four wickets.

Openers Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh both picked injuries and are currently undergoing rehabilitation. Both of them are likely to be rested for the first match on Thursday. Khakurel and Dhamala are likely to be assigned in opening batters’ roles. As a backup for injured openers, Khakurel, who arrived in the US on Monday, has been called in the national fold.

"It is unfortunate that we had a couple of injuries. They still have a chance of recovery at least to play the back end of the tournament. But replacements like Dhamala and Khakurel are looking good. Khakurel had a first practice session today (Tuesday) and they both were looking good," added Dassanayake.

"I think we are having tough competition on top even if other boys come back from the injuries. We could end up with lots of options on top. It is all about whoever is in best form and we want to play the best team against Oman."

Youth batter Dev Khanal will come as number three batter while Rohit Kumar Paudel, Dipendra Singh Airee, Aarif Sheikh and wicketkeeper batter Binod Bhandari will take charge of middle order batting.

"We have a young and solid middle order. They are doing fantastic jobs and they just need maturity. We are having very much settled middle order and looking for a bit of stability on top. Khanal has a good potential to be a number three batter for a long term," said Dassanayake.

Captain Lamichhane will spearhead Nepal's bowling department. One among left arm spinners Sushan Bhari and Sagar Dhakal apart from experienced medium pacer Sompal Kami and Karan KC will take charge of Nepal's bowling attack.

Tagging Oman as a strong opponent, Dassanayake said, "The same lot have been playing for a long time and there are many experienced players in that team. They too have weak areas and we are very well aware of those things. In T20 cricket we beat them easily, but 50 over is different. We are looking forward to playing our best cricket."

"I wanted to push for our best to win in all four matches. The main reason is if we can get full points we could be in the number five/six. It is tough to maintain consistency, and the advantage we have is that we have a young, fit team. These conditions will not take that much from our young team so we will be able to play some calibre cricket than any other teams," added Dassanayake.

Among four matches played against Oman in the League 2, Nepal had faced defeat in three games and won one. Oman had defeated Nepal in both the games of the League in 2020 that were played in Kathmandu on the back of solid batting performance by Zeeshan Maqsood and Aqib Ilyas. But Ilyas has been out of the squad since last year owing to his health condition.

All-rounder Maqsood and Bilal Khan will be the players to watch against Nepal. Both of them are among the highest wicket takers of the League 2. Khan has claimed 69 wickets in 31 games and Maqsood has claimed 39 wickets.

Similar to Nepal, Oman also arrived in Houston 10 days earlier to get used to the condition and have played two practice matches. They also won one and lost one against the local sides.