Kathmandu, November 2

The Cricket Association of Nepal today retained Paras Khadka as the skipper of the national team for the World Cricket League Championship matches against Papua New Guinea.

The team is scheduled to fly to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday to play two matches against PNG slated for November 16 and 18 in Abu Dhabi. This is the first time CAN announced the squad on the eve of the team’s departure after it failed to make unanimous decision over retaining Khadka as the skipper.

According to a reliable source, the selection panel had submitted the list of 16 players to the CAN last week and a faction of the cricket governing body did not want Khadka to continue as the captain. CAN acting General Secretary Uttam Karmacharya is the head of the selection committee, while former skipper Raju Khadka and Yunil Shrestha are the members.

Apart from Khadka and his deputy Gynendra Malla, others in the 16-member team included Subash Khakurel, Mahesh Chhetri, Anil Mandal, Naresh Budhayer, Sharad Vesawkar, Prithu Baskota, Sagar Pun, Mahaboob Alam, Sompal Kami, Shakti Gauchan, Basant Regmi, Karan KC, Irshad Ahmed and Wickram Sob. Head coach Pubudu Dassanayake, Dipendra Pratap Singh (assistant coach), Basanta Raj Satyal (team manager), Raman Shiwakoti (technical analyst) and Shreel Bhagat (physio) will also accompany the players to the UAE.

Although the officials failed to come up with the final decision due to unwillingness of a faction, CAN had already done the ticketing of the 16 players as submitted by the selection panel. According to acting president Deepak Koirala, they could not announce the squad because of the indifference among the selectors in picking Khadka as the captain. “The selectors were divided over retaining Paras (Khadka) as the captain and a faction of the CAN is also not in favour of him,” said the source.

But coach Dassanayake refuted the claim. “The claim of indifference in the selection panel is not true. I sat with the selectors before finalising the squad and all of us agreed to 16 players, captain and vice-captain,” said Dassanayake. According to him, the selectors decided to retain Khadka as the captain and Malla as his deputy.

CAN has fallen in turmoil because of infighting among its members and the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has charged 10 officials — including President Tanka Angbuhang, General Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakurel and Treasurer Raju Babu Shrestha — on corruption charges. The case is at the Special Court and the final verdict is expected in a couple of days. Only 16 out of the 31 elected officials have been running the association under the leadership of acting president Deepak Koirala. And the National Sports Council on Sunday instructed the CAN to stop its scheduled elections.

Coach Dassanayake said the WCL was the key tournament left for Nepal. “This is the opportunity for us as we can finish in top 3-4 in the WCL Championship and play the main qualifier to be in the World Cup or become an ODI status country,” he said. “So winning every match is important. We could not win against Scotland despite having the match on our hands. So it’s really important that we take full points from PNG matches ,” he added.

The matches were originally scheduled to be held in Kathmandu but the ICC shifted the games to the UAE citing security reasons. “We were really looking forward to play on home conditions and I could have guaranteed win the matches playing on home condition with the support from fans,” he said. “But unfortunately we don’t have that opportunity and we are playing in Abu Dhabi. But still it’s favourable conditions for us than PNG,” he added. Asked about the squad, Dassanayake said he was impressed with a couple of youngsters in Super League and training as well. “The youngsters are really doing well and some of them have got talent to perform at the highest level,” he said.

Skipper Khadka said the best 20 players were picked up from the practice matches and the team was looking forward to perform against PNG. “All the matches of the WCL are important and all the individuals needed to do their best from their side,” said Khadka. “We were nearly there against Scotland in one of the two matches and as all the players are in touch we have opportunity to get on the board.”

Nepal will begin the UAE tour with a two-day match against Hong Kong on November 5 and are scheduled to play against Pakistan three days later in their first match against the Test-playing nation at the Abu Dhabi Oval2 grounds. Nepal will then play against local team Danube Cricket Club at ICC Academy grounds in the 50-over match.

Pakistan coach Waqar Younis, whose side will also face Hong Kong in a 20-over tie on November 23, believes these are an important couple of games. “It is clear to see the great strides that are being made among the emerging teams in world cricket,” Younis told the ICC. “We are excited to face Nepal and Hong Kong as they are relatively new opponents, but we know that they have a lot of quality individually and collectively. Both games will present us with opportunities to adapt to shorter formats of the game coming off the back of a challenging Test series against England.”