A little more than a fortnight remains for the inauguration of Under-17 Asia Cup cricket tournament in Malaysia, but Nepal’s preparation has been disarrayed due to the problems with players’ age. And the officials believe one of the favorites’ participation is only for saving the face.
As the winner of U-15 and U-19 Asia Cup, Nepal is a favorite to win the event but Asian Cricket Council (ACC) decision to adopt strict age-rule for the first time has caused a lot of headaches for the officials of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN).
Following the reporting of half-a-dozen players as over-aged during U-15 Asia Cup last April, CAN asked all the regions to send genuine players for the U-17 National League in Bhairahawa. From the event, 33 probables were picked and trained for three-weeks under coach Roy Dias.
On June 16, the X-rays of the players’ wrist and elbow were sent to ACC’s medical consultant Dr. Vace Paes for age-verification. “Despite our sincere efforts, the results didn’t favored us,” joint secretary of CAN Laxman Bastola said. “All except two turned out to be over-aged.”
From among the group, Govinda Karki and Nirjal Chhetri were reported right age while U-15 vice-captain Gyanendra Malla having a chance as his age was verified as 16.9 years by ACC last April. “Gyanendra will play because we can defend his selection,” Bastola said.
CAN asked all the regions to send a 11-member fresh team after receiving the report and the 60-odd players went dental test today. CAN plans to announce the 18-member preliminary squad for the event on Monday.
“We are trying our best to get the best team,” coach Dias told the Post. “But we are talking about the team that probably classify as ‘C team’ because most of players we have haven’t played 45-over game and on turf wicket and some of them have just started to play.”
Dias found no words to predict Nepal’s performance in the event. “For the first time, I’m really stuck, I don’t have words to say how we are going to perform,” he said. “If we go through to second round, it would be a big thing for me.”
Nepal is pitted with Brunei and Afghanistan in Group C with top two teams qualifying for the quarterfinals. Only quarterfinalists from the event will get to play the event next year. “We had to go into quarterfinal,” Dias said. “But we are ill-prepared because we have not much time left and it’s raining.”
CAN will probably take chances with a few players from the first 33 who would be able to produce creditable documents verifying their age. Nepal will take on Afghanistan on August 5 and Brunei on August 6 in the league.