KATHMANDU, March 17: A preliminary squad of 18 members of Nepal U19 national cricket team left for Andhra Pradesh of India on Saturday to prepare for the upcoming ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Asia Division 1, 2019 being held in Malaysia from April 10-20.
Nepal team is scheduled to play four practice matches with the state cricket team of Andhra Pradesh, according to Raman Shiwakoti, manager of national senior cricket team. The squad of final 14 for the Asia region qualifiers next month will be selected after the India tour.
Nepal will face Malaysia, Singapore, and the UAE in the Division 1 from which the winner will qualify for ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup set to be held in South Africa in 2020. Similarly, Oman and Kuwait will also feature in the Division 1 after qualifying from the Division 2 tournament held last year in December.
Airee, Paudel help Nepal edge past Andhra Pradesh
A core of senior national team members, still in their teens, has been retained and given the opportunity to establish a winning combination ahead of the qualifiers.
Rohit Kumar Paudel, world record holder for the youngest player to score an international half-century, has been appointed as the new captain of junior team taking over from Aasif Sheikh who led Nepal in the previous two Youth Asia Cups.
Similarly, off-spinning all rounder Pawan Sarraf, world record holder for the youngest player to score half-century in T20 internationals Sundeep Jora, and middle-order batsman Bhim Sharki are in contention to help Nepal qualify for the world cup. Sarraf and Jora recently made their debuts for Nepal national cricket team in its last bilateral series against the UAE in ICC Academy grounds. Nepal won both -- one-day international and T20 International -- series 2-1.
Likewise, batsmen Ravi Kumar Sah, Rit Gautam, pace bowlers Kamal Singh Airee, Rashid Khan, left-arm spinners Surya Tamang and Sagar Dhakal are retained from the last squad which played the youth Asia cup. Avishek Basnet, all rounders Kushal Malla and Hari Bahadur Chauhan, left-arm pace bowler Pratis GC, Akash Chand, wicket-keeper batsman Lokesh Bahadur Bam and off-spinner Sher Malla have been called up for the first time to make a case for the final 14 which will travel to Malaysia.
Former national captain and coach of current U-19 and women’s cricket teams, Binod Kumar Das, will lead a team of five support staff on the tour. He is accompanied by physiotherapist Vikram Neupane and analyst Suraj Ratna Shakya, whereas batting consultant Apurva Desai and trainer Subash Patro will join the team directly from India.
