Khakurel´s international debut match will be against Hong Kong in the upcoming ACC Twenty20 scheduled from December 3-11 at the TU Cricket Ground. [break]
Khakurel has been selected in the team as wicket-keeper batsman for the upcoming tournament. The U-19 player is a bit anxious about playing for the national squad in front of the home crowd for the first time. Khakurel was not included in the national team during the first selection of 22-member squad for the ACC T20 tournament.
He was called later during the selection of the final 14 members. He will be opening Nepal´s innings pairing with Anil Mandal.
This is not the first time that Khakurel got selected in the last minute. He was left out during the selection of the preliminary 33-member squad of the U-21 team during the 10th South Asian Games (SAG) held in Bangladesh in 2010 but was later inducted in the team and he played a key role during Nepal´s third-place playoff match.
Expressing his delight on being in the national squad, Khakural said that he ends up being in the squad whenever he is left out during the preliminary round. “I feel that luck has been favoring me and it is a good sign for me.”
In the recent past, Khakurel was called for a closed-camp training after Mehaboob Aalam and Bhuwan Karki were ruled out for the SAARC T20 held in the Maldives earlier this month, but Khakurel couldn´t make it to the final squad.
However, the door has opened for Khakurel in the national team after Nepali coach Pubudu Dassanayake was not impressed with the batting of regular wicketkeeper Mahesh Chhetri during the Maldives tour.
Khakurel said that if he performs well for the national side he will be in the squad, if not, he will be out of the squad again.
Khakurel´s performance in the SAG helped him gain entry into the closed-camp for the World Cricket League Division Five hosted by Nepal, but, then too, he was not selected in the final squad. Although left out of the squad, Khakurel had scored 53 runs off 34 balls against the Americans in a practice match ahead of the tournament when other Nepali batsmen struggled to score.
Khakurel has been included into the national team for his attacking batting. Coach Dassanayake, former wicket-keeper of Sri Lanka, has been providing him training about wicket-keeping for longer spells and also has given him tips for the game.
Khakurel´s performance during the ACC U-19 held in Thailand and ICC U-19 World Cup qualifiers held in Ireland was average. Khakurel´s 54 runs against Afghanistan in Ireland was his best performance.
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