CAN named an 18-member squad for the closed-camp training and Vesawkar is the only name missing from the national team ranked fifth in the ACC Twenty20 Elite Cup in the UAE last month.
Sharad played three out of six matches in the T20 tournament but scored only 11 runs.
“Sharad is not 100 percent fit and in his best form. This is why we had to exclude him,” said chief selector Aryal. “Sharad could not perform during the last national tournament because of health problems.”
Also failing to make it to the squad are Ajay Rajbanshi and Chandra Sawad who were in the 18-member squad for the T20. U-15 captain Prithu Baskota, Subash Khakurel and Dhirendra Chand are included in the team instead.
Sharad is unhurt by the selectors´ decision. “Selectors told that I´m not fit and they might be true. But I want to prove myself if I get one more opportunity,” said Sharad. However, Sharad is happy for the selectors´ decision to include Prithu in the team. “Prithu is a talented player. He should have been in the squad much earlier and I´m happy for him this time around,” Sharad expressed his happiness.
This is the first time Prithu and Subash have been taken in the national squad. Binod Bhandari and Naresh Budhair, who had an impressive debut in T20, are also in the national squad.
Paras Khadka and Gyanendra Malla will continue their stint as the captain and vice-captain of the team respectively while former captains Paresh Lohani and Binod Das, who recently became a father, are also included in the team. Under the captaincy of Paras, Nepal could not reach the semifinals of the ACC T-20 Elite Cup held in the UAE last month. “Though we couldn´t put up a good show in the UAE, we can´t blame captaincy alone,” said Aryal adding, “Taking these things under consideration, we stick to the decision to give continuity to Paras´ captaincy."
Other members in the team include Dipendra Chaudhary, Shakti Gauchan, Mehboob Alam, Basanta Regmi, Mahesh Chhetri, Naresh Budhair, Binod Bhandari, Sanjam Regmi, Amrit Bhattarai, Rahul BK, Subash Khakurel, Prithu Baskota, Dhirendra Chand and Anil Mandal.
The WCL Div 5 will kick off on February 22. A joint training camp for the WCL Div 5 and the South Asian Games will begin on December 30.
Coach Roy Dias will look after the training of the national team. Dias will not visit Dhaka, where the U-21 team will participate in the 11th South Asian Games (SAG) scheduled to be held from January 29 to February 9.
“Both the tournaments will be held simultaneously and as we are more focused on Division-5, Dias will not visit Dhaka,” said CAN spokesperson Tarakmani Dixit. Chief selector Aryal will look after the U-21 team as a coach in SAG.
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