KATHMANDU, AUGUST 9
The Cricket Association of Nepal today recalled former skipper Gyanendra Malla in the national team for bilateral One Day International and Twenty20I series against Kenya later this month.
Malla was omitted from the national team for the USA and Scotland tours by the then head coach Pubudu Dassanayake. A day after announcing former Indian cricketer Manoj Prabhakar as new head coach, CAN recalled Malla for the Kenya tour. Shahab Alam and Bibek Yadav also made their comeback in the team.
Malla was in the team that played ODI Tri-series under the ICC Cricket World Cup League-II in the United Arab Emirates in March. After that, Nepal played a twomatch ODI series against Papua New Guinea and Tri-series, also involving Malaysia, on home soil in April.
In Malla's absence, Nepal also played T20 and One Day matches against Zimbabwe 'A' at the TU Stadium in May.
Malla also missed Nepal's USA and Scotland tours under the League-II apart from practice tour of Canada.
Arjun Saud is the lone new face in the team that will play five T20Is and three ODIs against Kenya from August 25 to September 5.
Saud, who has already represented Nepal in U-19 age group, is wicketkeeper and hard-hitting batsman. Wicketkeeper-batsman Binod Bhandari and Kushal Bhurtel were dropped from the squad that toured USA and Scotland.
Sandeep Lamichhane will lead the team in the T20I series and he will leave for the West Indies to take part in the Caribbean Premier League. The CPL is set to begin on August 31.
Vice-captain Rohit Paudel will lead the team in the ODI series. Aasif Sheikh, Aarif Sheikh, Dipendra Singh Airee, Dev Khanal, Aadil Alam, Karan KC, Sompal Kami, Basir Ahamad, Pawan Sarraf and Kishore Mahato are the other players in the team. Likewise, Jitendra Mukhiya, Bhim Sharki, Pratish GC and Hari Shankar Shah have been named in the list of reserve players.
Nepal and Kenya will begin the bilateral T20I series on August 25 ad they will play the second match the following day. The two sides will face each other in three back-to-back matches from August 28.
The first ODI is slated for September 2, while the second match is on September 3. Nepal and Kenya will play the third and final ODI match on September 5. All matches will be played at the Nairobi Gymkhana Club.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 10, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.
