Middle-order batsmen Sundeep Jora and Bhim Sarki, medium pacer Avinash Bohara and allrounder Pawan Sarraf broke into the senior national cricket team for the first time as Nepal on Sunday announced a 16-member squad for a bilateral series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Middle-order batsmen Sundeep Jora and Bhim Sarki, medium pacer Avinash Bohara and allrounder Pawan Sarraf broke into the senior national cricket team for the first time as Nepal on Sunday announced a 16-member squad for a bilateral series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Nepal are scheduled to play three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and as many Twenty20 Internationals at the ICC Academy Oval Ground in Dubai. It will be Nepal’s second bilateral series since the nation earned the coveted ODI status in March last year. Nepal played their first bilateral series against the Netherlands, featuring two ODI.
The two-match ODI series against the hosts Netherlands had ended in a 1-1 draw last year. The Netherlands had won the first on August 1 while Nepal squared the series by winning the second two days later. The UAE were also their last ODI opponent when Nepal played them in the Asia Cup Qualifiers in Malaysia. Nepal had lost that encounter on August 30 last year by 78 runs.
While the four cricketers made the cut from the preliminary 20-member squad named last month, middle-order batting mainstay Sharad Vesawkar withdrew due to illness. Technical Analyst Raman Shiwakoti informed that Vesawkar pulled out of the tournament as he was suffering from a severe deficiency of vitamin D. Shiwakoti said it takes Vesawkar around 3-4 weeks to recover from the weakness. Lalit Singh Bhandari, Sushan Bhari and Bikram Sob failed to make the cut and has been named as reserved. Star leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane joins the team in Kathmandu after cutting short his Bangladesh Premier League stint with Sylhet Sixers. He is scheduled to arrive on Monday, a day before the Nepali team leaves for the UAE.
Paras Khadka will lead the team with Gyanendra Malla, as usual, to deputise him. Others in the squad include Basanta Regmi, Binod Bhandari, Dipendra Singh Airee, Karan KC, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, Arif Sheikh, Pradeep Airee, Rohit Kumar Paudel and Sompal Kami. A three-member Independent Selection Committee headed by ICC Representative Aminul Islam, national team coach Jagat Tamatta and skipper Khadka finalised the squad.
The bilateral series kicks off with first ODI on January 25. The two teams then clash in the second the very next day before rounding up the series with the third one-dayer on January 28. The first of the three T20s starts on January 31. The second T20 has been scheduled for February 1 and third on February 3.
Ritesh Rijal is Sports Editor at The Kathmandu Post. Before joining the Post, he worked as a sports reporter at The Himalayan Times for over six years and The Rising Nepal for two years.
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