Nepal has been drawn to the group B of the SAARC U-25 T20 tournament with the three test playing nations namely India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The draw and the fixture was made public last night in Male in a glittering ceremony. His Excellency President Mohamed Nasheed, senior Government officials, officials of foreign missions in Maldives, Cricket Board officials, players and other stakeholders attended the ceremony.
Cheering the ceremony, President Mohamed Nasheed praised Cricket Board of Maldives, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the SAARC Taskforce and various other involved organisations for organizing the event and also stated that it would make the relation of the SAARC Countries much stronger through the means of sports.
Host Maldives along with Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are drawn to Group A while Group B comprises of Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have already named their U-25 squad and Maldives being host will name the squad soon. While India and Bangladesh have not yet confirmed their participation. The team from Karnataka Institute of Cricket is said to represent India in the tournament as BCCI was not able to send the team due to other problems. Similarly, being busy with the first class cricket, Bangladesh yet haven’t named its squad.
The U25 twenty20 tournament is an initiative of the Maldives government and is organised by the Cricket Board of Maldives.The tournament will be played in a purpose built stadium on the island of Fuvahmulah in the South Province under an AstroTurf.
