Kathmandu, December 4

Lalitpur Patriots today unveiled the four cricketers picked up through local talent hunt for the TVS Everest Premier League slated for December 18-30 at the Tribhuvan University Stadium.

Left-arm medium pace bowler Pratish GC of Kathmandu, all-rounder Sumit Jha of Rajbiraj, off-spinner Bipin Acharya of Butwal and batsman-cum-wicketkeeper Rit Gautam of Biratnagar were picked up from the talent hunt programme conducted by Patriots on November 10 and November 14.

A total of six city-based teams are competing in the premium Twenty20 cricket tournament and the participating teams needed to include a player through talent hunt in the 15-member squad. All the teams have already named a marquee player and bought 10 cricketers through auction, while they are yet to announce three foreign cricketers.

Patriots coach Raju Basnyat informed that a total of 105 players took part in the talent hunt programme and 34 cricketers were selected from first round after assessing them in the nets. “We selected four best players after having matches at the Mulpani grounds and we also considered their age,” he said. “We also wanted to contribute to the Nepali cricket by picking up the best players from the talent hunt programme.”

“All four players will be kept in closed camp training starting from December 12 along with other players and the one to be included as the 15th member of the squad will be named in due course,” added Basnyat.

Meanwhile, Patriots President and owner Kishore Maharjan informed that all four players selected through talent hunt would be paid with Rs 25,000 each. “We will keep them with the team and will provide the same training facilities other team members get,” said Maharjan.

Out of the four players, Pratish GC and Rit Gautam have already proved the calibre as they have been called in the close camp training of the U-16 national cricket team which will take part in the ACC U-16 Elite Cup to be held in Thailand from December 9-19.

“We are proud that two of our players are already in the youth national team. We feel that we selected the right players from the talent hunt. We hope that they will make it to the final squad for the Thailand tour. In that case, the two players will join our camp after their national duty is over,” said Maharjan.

Kathmandu Kings XI, Chitwan Tigers, Pokhara Rhinos, Biratnagar Warriors and Bhairahawa Gladiators are also competing in the event organised by EPL Pvt Ltd under the sponsorship of TVS. The winners of the tournament will take home Rs 2.1 million.