The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) on Sunday called up 20 players for a closed camp training for the triangular series of ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 involving Nepal, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and hosts the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Series will take place from March 15 to 22.

Pawan Sarraf, Anil Kumar Shah, Raju Rijal, Sushan Bhari, Bhim Sharki, Bikram Sob, Sompal Kami and Binod Bhandari are among the players called in the closed camp who were excluded from the recently held World Twenty20 Global Qualifiers tour of Oman.

Seven players of the T20 tour have been left out, including veteran Sharad Vesawkar, Lokesh Bam, Shahab Alam, Jitendra Mukhiya, Kushal Malla, Abinash Bohara and Pradeep Airee. The final squad will have 14 members.

Nepal are planning for a Sri Lanka tour in the first week of March to fine-tune their preparations for the UAE triangular series.

Nepal will play two matches each against UAE and PNG. They are scheduled to vie against the UAE on March 18 and 21 and PNG on March 16 and 22.

Nepal currently stand sixth in the seven-team league. They have so far played eight matches in the League 2 cycle and stand sixth in the table on eight points with four wins and defeats each. The League 2 also features Oman, the USA, Scotland and Namibia. Each team will play a total of 36 ODIs by February 2023.

The teams that finish in the top three will secure berths at the World Cup Qualifiers while the bottom four will compete in the World Cup Qualifiers playoff set to take place in Zimbabwe in June and July in 2023.

Oman lead the standings on 30 points winning 14 from 23 games played. Scotland are second on 16 points with seven wins from 12 matches played while the PNG are at the bottom of the standings having lost all 12 matches played so far.

Nepali Squad

Sandeep Lamichhane, Gyanendra Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Kushal Bhurtel, Arif Sheikh, Asif Sheikh, Kamal Singh Airee, Bibek Kumar Yadav, Sagar Dhakal, Gulshan Jha, Karan KC, Binod Bhandari, Rohit Kumar Poudel, Sompal Kami, Bikram Sob, Bhim Sharki, Pawan Sarraf, Sushan Bhari, Raju Rijal, Anil Kumar Shah.