Nepal on Monday announced the final squad for upcoming ACC Women’s T20 Championships including youth spinner Manisha Upadhyay for the first time in the national squad.

The 18-year-old left arm spinner took five wickets in the recently concluded ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifiers in Malaysia although Nepal failed to qualify for the South Africa finals. Upadhyay will fill the void left by spinner Hiranmayee Roy in the 15-member squad led by Rubina Chhetri.

Roy failed to make it to the squad after she could not obtain her travel documents. The 15-year-old spinner had shone with the ball in her national debut at home against Uganda in the five-match T20I Series last month. Roy had returned the player-of-the-match figures of 2-11 to lead Nepal to a first win in the fourth T20 after Uganda had won the first three matches. Roy also took a wicket in the fifth T20 match of the Series which Nepal lost 3-2.

Upadhyay, who also played for Lalitpur Falcons in the Women’s Champions League T20 Cricket Tournament in 2019/20 season, had led Gandaki women to national U-19 title in March.

Allrounder Mamta Chaudhary has made a comeback in the national fold and will take the place of Sarita Magar, who has been left out for the championship.

The championship is set to take place in Malaysia from June 17–25.

Nepal are pitted alongside Kuwait, Hong Kong, Bhutan and Bahrain in Group B. Hosts Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates are in Group A.

The two finalists will qualify for the 2022 Women’s T20 Asian Cup, scheduled to be played in Bangladesh in October 2022.

Nepal squad:

Rubina Chhetri (c), Indu Barma (vc), Sita Rana Magar, Jyoti Pandey (wk), Kabita Kunwar, Asmina Karmacharya, Kabita Joshi, Mamta Chaudhary, Manisha Upadhyay, Dolly Bhatta, Bindu Rawal, Sangita Rai, Apsari Begam, Kajol Shrestha (wk), Sabnam Rai