Nepal coach Monty Desai will bank on experience after retaining most of the players from the ACC Men’s Premier Cup campaign in the final 15-man squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the United States.

The announcement came hours after Nepal suffered a huge 76-run defeat against the West Indies A in the third T20 in Kirtipur that handed the visitors a 2-1 lead in the five-match T20 series.

With the T20 World Cup just a month away, coach Monty Desai will still be desperate to address Nepal’s struggle with the bat which is turning out to be a big headache, again.

Nepal’s team will be led by regular captain Rohit Paudel, who has regained his form at a perfect time. Paudel scored an unbeaten century that helped Nepal win the first T20 against the West Indies A. He also played an unconquered knock of 48-ball 71 in the second T20 but could not save his team from defeat.

Desai rested Paudel on Wednesday, and in his absence, the hosts could not match the tempo of a strong West Indies A team and could only manage 151 runs in their chase of a massive 228-run target that was set with the help of an unbeaten century from Johnson Charles and a half-century from Andre Fletcher.

Batters Binod Bhandari, Aarif Sheikh, Bibek Yadav and Lokesh Bam—who were heavily experimented in the build-up to the World Cup—were all left out from the T20 World Cup squad after their dismal performance continued in the series against West Indies A as well.

Veteran cricketer Bhandari travelled to Hong Kong with the national side to participate in the Hong Kong T20 Series following his decent performance at the Prime Minister Cup. He was part of Nepal A team’s all five games against Ireland A. But his outings have not been very satisfactory, with his 27 against PNG being the highest score of his last nine games.

Aarif was also out of form. Since his unconquered knock of 93 in a T20 match against visiting Ireland A a month ago, his handling with the bat has been a big disappointment. He has scored just 15 runs in his last four games.

Yadav was seen as a bright prospect for Nepal in November last year when he smashed three consecutive sixes to Oman’s Bilal Khan off the last over in the T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier. He carried that aggression to Nepal’s Tour of Hong Kong in March, blasting a four-ball 19 (not out) against Papua New Guinea that also featured three sixes off the last over. However, he has failed to touch the double digit figures in his last five T20 games.

Lokesh Bam scored a century against Ireland A in Nepal’s first T20 match in March but has not been able to carry on with that form.

Anil Sah, however, has made his cut to the World Cup squad despite failing to impress in his recent matches. Sah returned to international cricket in February with a bang, scoring a fifty and an unbeaten century against Canada in the home ODI series. But he has lost his form since. He was dismissed cheaply for five runs in the first T20 and one run in the second T20 against West Indies A. On Wednesday, he played 15-ball 14.

Fresh from a record-equalling feat of six sixes in an over against Qatar in the ACC Men’s T20 Premier Cup in Oman, all-rounder Dipendra Singh Airee will be in the mix as always, alongside wicket-keeper and batsman Aasif Sheikh and Kushal Malla. Sheikh has been rested for the West Indies A series.

Desai’s love affair with out-of-shape Kushal Bhurtel will continue at the World Cup despite the opener experiencing the lowest point of his career. He was dismissed for a duck for a three match in a row during the Premier Cup in Oman and has continued his poor show back at home (in the series against West Indies A) as well. There were questions whether his selection would be a right choice but Desai has no option but to hope Bhurtel will regain his form for the global event.

Gulsan Jha will also travel with the squad as one of the young players, while Pratis GC has also kept his place.

All-rounder Sompal Kami is the only player from Nepal’s debut 2014 World Cup campaign in Bangladesh and will lead the fast-bowling with a mature Karan KC, while Lalit Rajbanshi will lead Nepal’s spin attack.

Spinner Sagar Dhakal and pacer Kamal Singh Airee are the only new changes from a squad that had a disastrous Premier Cup campaign.

Kamal took 10 wickets in Nepal A’s two series (OD and T20) against Ireland A. However his bowling spell against West Indies A has proved expensive as he conceded 53 runs in each of his two innings.

Dhakal took 2-19 in the second T20 and 1-41 in the third T20 against West Indies. He also picked four wickets for Nepal A in three T20 matches.

Nepal are in Group D alongside the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and South Africa. They open their World Cup against the Dutch on June 4.

Nepal are appearing at a World Cup for the only second time.

Nepal squad for T20 World Cup

Rohit Paudel (captain), Aasif Sheikh, Anil Kumar Sah, Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Lalit Rajbanshi, Karan KC, Gulsan Jha, Sompal Kami, Pratis GC, Sundeep Jora, Abinash Bohara, Sagar Dhakal and Kamal Singh Airee.