Wicket-keeper Manoj Katuwal makes the comeback in the international cricket after more than a year as Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) included him in the national team to play the ACC Fast Track Countries’ Tournament match against Malaysia here today.
Manoj was not included in the national team last January in favor of Manoj Vaishya when the team was annouced to play the World Cup Qualifying Series II in Malaysia. A string of bad performance from the once very reliable wicket-keeper forced selectors to keep him out.
Two new faces have been included for the first time – paceman Avaya Rana and U-15 Asia Cup winning team’s vice-captain Gyanendra Malla, both of Kathmandu. Avaya replaced Manjeet Shrestha while Gyanendra Malla has come in place of Dipendra Chaudhary.
Binod Das will continue as captain while Shakti Gauchan will be his deputy. Other named in the team are Paresh Lohani, Raj Kumar Pradhan, Mehboob Alam, Sanjam Regmi, Raju Basnet, Kaniska Chaugai, Sarad Vesawkar, Paras Khadka, and Dhirendra Chand.
Roy Dias has been named coach while Shankar Rana will assist him. New CAN member Thakur Pratap Thapa will the team’s manager. The three-day match between Nepal and Malaysia starts Oct 14.
The match will be Nepal’s last match in the tournament. Nepal had earlier drawn with Singapore and Hong Kong and defeated United Arab Emirates. Nepal is currently at third-position, the last to qualify for the next year’s ICC InterContinental Cup behind Malaysia and UAE.
Singapore plays Hong Kong from Oct 7 while UAE meets Singapore in the last match of the tournament in third-week of November.