Sheikh to lead Under-19 team

Kathmandu, September 7

The four-member selection committee today announced the youth team for the India tour where the U-19 cricketers will play in a quadrangular series slated for September 12-18 in Lucknow.

The selection committee — formed by the International Cricket Council in the absence of Cricket Association of Nepal which is suspended — is headed by ICC representative Aminul Islam, while U-19 team head coach Binod Das, coach Sunoj Bhattarai and former national team skipper Raju Khadka are the members.

The committee picked up Md Asif Sheikh as the skipper for the Quadrangular U-19 One Day Series which features two teams from India and one from Afghanistan. Trit Raj Das, Ravi Shah, Bipin Rawal, Lokesh Bam, Rit Gautam, Pawan Sarraf, Kishor Mahato, Rasid Khan, Bhim Sharki, Kamal Singh Airee, Sundeep Jora, Sagar Dhakal, Arun Airee and Mohamad Samsad Alam are the other members in the Nepali team.

The Nepali team is scheduled to go to Lucknow on September 10 for the series. All four teams will play against each other in the league round with top making it to the final and bottom two competing in third-place playoff. Nepal U-19 team will take on India U-19 ‘B’ on September 12 and will play against India U-19 ‘A’ after two days. Nepal will then face Afghanistan on September 16.

Head coach Binod Das has taken the quadrangular series as a platform for the U-19 Asia Cup which will be held later this month in Bangladesh. Nepal earned automatic berth in the Asia Cup as last edition’s semi-finalists. Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates will participate in the event starting on September 27.