Kathmandu – Nepal Cricket team on Saturday announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming Asia Cup Qualifiers, scheduled from August 27- September 6 at Malaysia.
Paras Khadka will lead his side for the six-nation qualifying tournament. Vice Captain Gyanendra Malla, Wicket-Keeper/Batsman Anil Kumar Sah, Rohit Kumar Paudel, Dipendra Singh Airee, Md. Aarif Sheikh and extra Wicket-keeper/Batsman Subash Khakurel are picked for the 15-man squad.
Similarly, Sompal Kami, Basant Regmi, Karan KC, Lalit Bhandari, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi and young leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane looks a good bowling unit, who recently played their maiden One-day International series against the Netherlands.
Lamichhane, currently playing Caribbean Premier league (CPLT20) for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots will join the squad later.
Meanwhile, Binod Bhandari and Sagar Pun have made a comeback to the squad.
Pun had a great outing in the recently concluded Malaysian Premier League, a 50-over tournament. He piled up 452 runs in ten innings including two centuries and a fifty for Kuala Lumpur team. His run flow of 66, 26, 46, 39, 34, 109, 22, 100 and 10 in every inning for Kuala Lumpur team helped his side to win the tournament, defeating Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in the final.
Kishor Mahato, Pradeep Airee, Sunil Dhamala and Sushan Bhari are also added in the squad as reserve players and will fly with the team.
A two-member selection panel including coach Jagat Tamata and Captain Paras Khadka has picked up the 15-member squad for the Asia Cup Qualifier 2018.
Nepal team will fly to Sri Lanka on August 20 to play three practice matches prior to the main event.
They will play Army Cricket team, Bloomfield and Colts on August 22, 24 and 26 respectively and fly to Malaysia on August 27.
Nepal will kick off the Qualifiers against Oman on August 29 at Bayuemas Oval then play UAE at Kinrara Oval on August 30.
They will take on host Malaysia on September 1 at Bayuemas Oval and completes the round-robin group playing against Hong Kong on September 4 at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Oval ground.
Six Nation will fight each other for one qualifying spot in the tournament and the winner later joins Asian giants India and Pakistan in Group A of 2018 Asia Cup to be playing in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on September 15-28.
