KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 27
The Cricket Association of Nepal today announced a 20-member preliminary squad for close camp training ahead of the national team’s tour to the United Arab Emirates for the ICC Cricket World Cup League-II tournament.
Nepal will play against the UAE and Papua New Guinea in the tri-series under the League-II tournament from March 16-22. The selection committee headed by former national team member Dipendra Chaudhary excluded seven cricketers from the team that took part in the ICC T20 World Cup Global Qualifiers in Oman last week.
Sharad Vesawkar, who was injured midway through the Global Qualifiers, along with Pradeep Airee, and Jitendra Mukhiya were among the notable exclusions. The CAN will announce the final squad after a couple of days of close camp training.
Karan KC, who was ruled out of the Global Qualifiers due to injury, has been included in the team.
Sandeep Lamichhane, who led the national team in the Global Qualifiers, former skipper Gyanendra Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Kushal Bhurtel, Arif Sheikh, Asif Sheikh, Kamal Singh Airee, Bibek Kumar Yadav, Sagar Dhakal, Gulshan Jha were retained, while the selection committee recalled Binod Bhandari, Rohit Kumar Poudel, Sompal Kami, Bikram Sob, Bhim Sharki, Pawan Sarraf, Sushan Bhari, Raju Rijal and Anil Kumar Shah.
Nepal will begin the tri-series with a match against PNG on March 16 in Sharjah before playing against the UAE two days later in Dubai. Nepal will then face the hosts in return leg match on March 21 in Dubai before ending the campaign with a match against PNG the following day in Dubai. Nepal have played two series so far winning four matches out of eight. Currently, Nepal are at the sixth place with eight points in the seven-team table. Oman are at the top with 30 points from 23 matches, while Scotland are second on 16 from 12 games.
The United States of America are third on 14 points from 16 matches, whereas UAE are fourth on 12. Namibia are at the fifth place with 10 points from nine matches, while bottom side PNG have faced defeats in all 12 matches so far. Top three teams of the League-II will earn places in the World Cup Qualifiers, while other four sides will have to play playoffs.
After the UAE tour, Nepal will host a tri-nation T20I series involving PNG and Malaysia at end of the March and they are scheduled to play One Day International series against the UAE in Kathmandu.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 28 2022, of The Himalayan Times.