KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Sri Lankan coach Roy Luke Dias believes the current team is strong enough to win the ACC U-16 Elite Cup beginning here from Monday.

According to Dias,

the team consists of 10 bowlers — six right-arm medium pacers and four left-arm spinners — and a wicketkeeper. In batting, Dias says four players — skipper Swichin Shah, Nischal Pandey, Dipendra Chand and Sharad Khadka — were capable of taking the batting reign.

“I don’t think this is a proper side to take part in a major tournament. But still I believe the side is strong enough to lift the trophy as these boys have cricket in their blood and they have been playing cricket in their regions,” says Dias, who recently guided the Nepali senior side to the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division-V victory.

As Nepal’s coach, Dias has already won all the

ACC age-group tournaments in the last nine years. And he is eager to add one more honour to his credit. The ACC introduced the U-16 format by scrapping the U-15 and U-17 tournaments from this year.

“This is the first U-16 event and I am looking forward to fare well in it,”says Dias ruling out any pressure to win the tournament. Dias has been looking after the team only for the last five days since he was busy with the senior national side. The boys were kept in Birgunj— where they trained for 10 odd days — as the TU ground was unavailble. Dias says the players need motivation for them to achieve success.