A national selection committee headed by coach Umesh Patwal and skipper Paras Khadka on Thursday announced a 35-member preliminary cricket squad for the 13th South Asian Games.

Nepal is hosting the multi-event sports meet on December 1-10 in Kathmandu in Pokhara. The preliminary squad is a mix of senior and age-group national team players. The regional sports extravaganza offers competition in 27 sports disciplines. The closed camp training starts in Kathmandu from September 1.

Apart from skipper Khadka, the squad includes Gyanendra Malla, Sharad Vesawkar, Basant Regmi, Raju Rizal, Jitendra Kumar Mukhiya, Pradeep Airee, Sunil Dhamala, Saurabh Khanal, Lalit Singh Bhandari, Bikram Sob, Ishan Pandey, Karan KC, Mahamad Asif Sheikh, Binod Bhandari, Sundeep Jora, Kushal Malla, Rit Gautam and Pawan Sarraf. Amit Shrestha, Kishor Mahato, Md Arif Sheikh, Sushan Bhari, Anil Kumar Sah, Abinash Bohara, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, Nandan Yadav, Rohit Kumar Paudel, Bhim Sharki, Kushal Bhurtel, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sompal Kami, Sagar Dhakal and Shahab Alam complete the preliminary squad..

Meanwhile, Amit Shrestha and Kishor Mahato on Thursday left for Singapore to play a match against Singapore national cricket team. The Nepali duo will represent Visitor Team who will play four 50-over matches against the hosts. Players of three nations—Nepal, Malaysia as well as some from the hosts—will form the Visitor Team.