KATHMANDU, April 7: Nepal U-19 national cricket team was given farewell amid a function held in Kathmandu on Saturday, prior to their travel to Malaysia to participate in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Asia 2019. 

The tournament is set to be held in Malaysia from April 10 to 18.

Nepal will lock horns with the UAE, Malaysia, Oman, Singapore, and Kuwait in a single round-robin format for one qualification spot from the Asian region into the main draw of 2020 U19 World Cup in South Africa.

The youngest half-centurion in international cricket, Rohit Kumar Paudel, was appointed the captain replacing Aasif Sheikh who led the team for Youth Asia Cup earlier this year. 
The new captain was confident on the balance of the squad. He expressed that qualifying for the world cup is almost on cards. 

“We are feeling good collectively with our performances in the recent practice tour,” Paudel said. “There are few experienced players in the squad, which certainly makes my job easier in the middle. We can always talk to each other in difficult situations.”

“Qualifying for the world cup is a realistic goal for us,” he added.

Nepal had last played U-19 world cup in Bangladesh in 2016 before missing out on 2018’s marquee age-level event which was held in New Zealand and won by India. Head coach Binod Das, who has represented Nepal numerous times for U-19 world cups before, said that the practice tour to India was effective and players now feel confident ahead of the qualifiers.

“We feel appropriately prepared for the qualifiers after our 15-day practice tour in India. We don’t know our opponents’ strength yet, but we trust in our ability against them.”

Das further stated that the training and coaching in India was important for the team, which might prove evidently helpful for the upcoming tournament.  

“We worked on our physical fitness and bowling. The first-class level coach of Andhra Pradesh helped us throughout the tour. We consistently scored good totals, which gave us the much necessary confidence ahead of the tournament,” Das said.

The matches will be played at Kinrara Oval, Bayuemas Oval in Klang, and UKM Oval in Bangi, Malaysia. They will be played in 50-over format. All matches will be day games with a start time of 9:30am local time.

Nepal will face Singapore in its inaugural match of the tournament on April 12 at UKM Oval.
The previous edition of Asia qualifiers saw Afghanistan beat Nepal in the final to secure its spot in the 2018 edition of U19 World Cup in New Zealand.  Now a test nation, Afghanistan has automatically qualified for the upcoming edition of the world cup in South Africa in 2020.

SQUAD
Batsman: Rohit Kumar Paudel (Captain), Avishek Basnet, Bhim Sharki, Sundeep JoraWicket-keeper: Aasif Sheikh, Hari Bahadur Chauhan, Rit GautamPace bowlers: Kamal Singh Airee, Pratis GC, Rashid Khan

All-rounders: Kushal Malla, Pawan Sarraf

Spin bowlers: Sagar Dhakal, Surya Tamang

Reserve Players: Akash Chand, Lokesh Bahadur Bam, Ravi Kumar Sah, Sher Malla

Support-staff: Binod Das (head coach), Raman Shiwakoti (team manager), Vikram Nyaupane (physiotherapist)

 
• Cricket
 
• U-19
 
• Nepal