KATHMANDU, Dec 27: Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) on Monday selected 23 players for the first phase of closed camp training for the upcoming ACC U-19 Elite Cup to be held in Thailand from February 1 to 10.
CAN has included only Prithu Baskota from the squad that participated in the last edition of the tournament, which was held in Qatar in 2009. CAN has also picked popular faces like Subash Khakurel, Sagar Pun, Bhuwan Karki and Rahul BK in the team, who are all new to the U-19 squad.
The selection committee headed by Bijay Kumar Sharma picked Amit Shrestha, Sharad Khadka, Shiva Kumar Tandukar, Faizurul Rahman Khan, Chandan Jha, Naresh Budhaayer and Mohammad Hashim for the closed camp training. Likewise, Rupesh Sharma, Imauddin Halwai, Nischal Pandey, Bivek Chaudhary, Bivek Dali, Rajesh Pulami, Avinash Karn, Rahul Pratap Singh, Krishna Karki, Sameer Nepal and Pradeep Airee are also in the list of 23 players.
Baskota was the vice-captain of the U-19 team in 2009 and captained Region No 3 Kathmandu in the recently concluded Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament. Khakurel was declared the best batsman, and Avinash Karn the best bowler and best player of the Wai Wai U-19 tournament.
Nepal are four-time champions of the ACC U-19 Elite Cup but had lost to Afghanistan in the semifinal of the last edition in 2009.
REPUBLICA
