Four new players called up for Emerging Teams Cup
The selection panel called up four new faces in the 15-member national cricket team for the ACC Emerging Teams Cup scheduled to be held in Bangladesh from March 25 to April 4.
The Selection Committee — headed by ICC’s Asia Development Officer Venkatapathy Raju with national cricket team head coach Jagat Tamatta, skipper Paras Khadka and vice-captain Gyanendra Malla — picked up batsman Asif Sheikh as well as bowlers Sushan Bhari, Dipesh Shrestha and Dilip Nath for the tournament.
Since skipper Paras Khadka has been ruled out of the squad due to health issues, Gyanendra Malla will lead the side, while Sharad Vesawkar has been given the responsibility of vice-captain. Binod Bhandari, Sagar Pun, Arif Sheikh, Mahaboob Alam, Dipendra Singh Airee, Sandeep Lamichhane, Avinash Karna, Sunil Dhamala and Bhuwan Karki are the other members of the team.
Kushal Bhurtel, Jitendra Kumar Mukhiya, Rajesh Pulami Magar and Sushil Kandel have been named as the reserved players. Besides Khadka, bowler Sompal Kami was also ruled out of the squad due to injury, while Shakti Guachan and Bansant Regmi were given rest.
Coach Tamatta said that new players were included in the squad to provide them with the platform and exposure. “New players will be able to showcase their talents in the tournament and gain experience which will further strengthen Nepal’s bench. As a couple of players are in the phase of retirement, we need to prepare new players for future. So the tournament will be helpful to choose players in coming days,” said Tamatta. “Gauchan and Regmi have been given rest as they have played for long time,” he added.
Nepal will start the closed camp training for the tournament from March 19. National teams from Nepal, Malaysia, Hong Kong and
Afghanistan along with the U-23 sides from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh will take part in the tournament.
