Kathmandu, August 25

Coach Jagat Tamatta was hopeful of winning the trophy of the ACC U-19 Premier slated for August 26 to September 4 in Malaysia.

“The players are fit and fine, both mentally and physically, and I am pinning hopes on these cricketers to bring in the trophy from Malaysia,” said Tamatta, the chief cricket coach of National Sports Council, at the team’s farewell programme.

“We had a good training of 45 days and the best 14 players have been picked from a pool of 45 cricketers,” said Tamatta. The coach said the team was a balanced one having bowling strength. “We have eight all-rounders in the team with four each spinners and medium pacers. The batting aspect is also strong but we need to get a good start as we have strong middle and lower order to bat,” he added.

Asked about the opponents, Tamatta said all the teams were of similar standard. “All the teams are beatable and it will not be very hard to win the trophy if we perform to our potential,” said Tamatta. “If the openers give 50-run start, we can post 200-plus total on the board, which is enough for us to defend,” he said.

Skipper Raju Rijal urged the team members to stay confident and perform to their potential. “We have done a lot of hard works in training and there are lots of expectations from us,” said Rijal. “We have to perform well as we will be playing for the nation,” he added. Arif Sheikh, Dipesh Shrestha, Saurav Khanal, Prem Tamang, Sushil Kandel, Dipendra Airee, Sunil Dhamala, Shankar Rana, Yogendra Singh Karki, Sandip Sunar, Raj Bir Singh, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi and Ashish Dhami are the other members in the team.

Secretary at Ministry of Youth and Sports, Dipendra Nath Sharma asked the cricketers to play their natural game without taking too much stress. “Self-confidence and team spirit are very important in cricket. You should not get carried away or frustrated with the ups and downs. Just stick to your natural game,” said Sharma. Secretary Sharma, Vice-president of Cricket Association of Nepal Keshav Ghimire, Assistant GM of Chaudhary Group Lal Babu Prasad and Senior Manager of Chaudhary Group Surendra Khanal bade farewell to the team.

CAN Member Anup Thapa is the team manager, while Shreel Bhagat is Physio. Umpire Binay Kumar Jha will also leave for Malaysia to officiate the matches. The team is leaving for Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. Nepal will open the campaign with a match against the United Arab Emirates at the Bayuemas Oval on August 28 before facing Afghanistan at the Kinrara Oval the following day. Nepal will then take on hosts Malaysia at the Bayuemas on August 31, Kuwait at the Kinrara on September 1 and Saudi Arabia at the Club Aman two days later. The six-team tournament is played on round-robin league format.