Monthly Archives: April 2012

Despite playing at the home, Nepali U-16 cricket team led by Switchon Shah had to satisfy only as runner-up in the first edition of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup in 2010. Singapore had defeated Nepal in the final of the first edition. New bunch of Nepali U-16 cricketers are gearing up for the second edition of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup and they have not only to step into the shoes of their seniors but also to move one-step ahead and win the title. The second edition of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup will be held in Malaysia from May 4 to 13. The current U-16 team has been going through last phase of closed camp training under the guidance… Read More

Region No 6 Baitadi, who won the National U-16 Cricket Tournament last month, proved to be an emerging power of domestic cricket as they clinched the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament on Thursday. Baitadi edged past Region No 2 Birgunj by four wickets in the final of the Wai Wai U-19 at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur to claim the back-to-back titles. Birgunj won the toss and elected to bat but the decision proved to be fatal as Baitadi bowled them out for only 100 runs in 37.2 overs and successfully chased the target in 31.4 overs losing six wickets. Birgunj had won all the three group-stage matches of the tournament as their openers Hasim Ansari and Bijay Ghalan… Read More

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced a 14-member team on Wednesday for the ACC U-16 Elite Cup to be held in Malaysia from May 4 to 13. The CAN picked the final 14 out of 19 players in the closed camp training for the tournament. Deependra Chand is the captain of the Nepali U-16 team, which includes Aadil Khan, Kali Charan Yadav, Shashi Bhusan Mishra, Nurdhwaj Sen, Jagadish Chand and Akash Bista. Likewise, Rabin Gupta, Aasif Sekh, Kushal Bhurtel, Rupesh Banstola, Mukunda Yadav, Alfaj Mansoori and Anup Neupane are other members of the team. Nitesh Thakur, Lokesh Jha, Ajay Sahani and Heman Rai are considered as reserve players. Manjur Alam Khan is the coach of the U-16 team.

Region No 6 Baitadi fixed the title clash with Region No 2 Birgunj in the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament on Thursday. Baitadi defeated defending champion Region No 4 Bhairahawa by two wickets in the last league match on Tuesday to fix the final spot. Net run rate came into count as Bhairahawa, Baitadi and Janakpur had equal four points from three matches. In the match played at TU Ground, Kirtipur, Baitadi invited Bhairahawa to bat first and restricted them in just 83 runs off 30 overs. Binod Lama grabbed five wickets in nine overs conceding nine runs. Yagya Man Kumal and Dipendra Airee grabbed two wickets each. Sabin Ratna Shakya was the highest scorer for Bhairahawa with 15… Read More

Nepali team for ACC U-16 Elite Cup is to be taken care of by domestic coach. Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has decided to keep Manjur Alam Khan as in-charge of the team, for the tournament that will be played in Malaysia from May 4. “Technical Committee had recommended Mahesh Rijal. But he could not make it due to family reasons. So, we’ve chosen Manjur Alam Khan as coach for U-16 team,” CAN General Secretary Ashok Pyakurel said. Nepal has appointed Pubudu Dassanayake as chief coach. “According to contract, Dassanayake is to mainly look after National and U-19 team,” Pyakurel said. “He was to have a look at them during camp. But due to controversy over age, team selection was… Read More

Nepal´s national cricket team captain Paras Khadka is all set to play for a Canadian cricket club. He received invitation from Ontario Cricket Club and Academy to play for it for four months. If everything goes well, he will leave Kathmandu before the second week of May. Armed Police Force (APF), the team he plays for, and Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) have already given a clearance to Khadka to play in Canada. Khadka and Shakti Gauchan came into limelight for helping Nepal finish 7th in the ICC World Twenty20 qualifiers. Skipper Khadka had scored a total of 254 runs and taken seven wickets. Gauchan took 16 wickets to finish as the third top wicket taker in the championship. Gauchan was… Read More

National team captain Paras Khadka is to play club cricket in Canada. He has been called to play for Ontario Cricket Club and Academy for 4 months. He is preparing to leave for Canada in second week of May after completing visa related process. Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) and Armed Police Force (APF) – from which he plays – have already given a clearance to Khadka to play in a foreign country. However, he is to come back to Nepal in the third week of September, to play ACC trophy for Nepal in UAE. Paras told us that the club will have to release him to play for whenever Nepal plays international cricket. Nepal’s Canadian coach Pubudu Dassanayake is… Read More

Region No 2 Birgunj advanced into the final of the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Toiurnament with cent percent results in the league round of Group B. Birgunj defeated Region No 1 Biratnagar by seven wickets in the last league match of the group B played at TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur to register its third straight victory en route to the final. Winning the toss, Biratnagar opted to bat first and scored 213 runs losing eight wickets. Siddhant Lohani’s unbeaten 52 runs off 52 balls with five boundaries and a six guided the team for the huge total. However, Biratnagar did not start the innings well as it lost the opening pair for the total of 10 runs on board.… Read More

Nepal Marwari Cricket League will kick off from Wednesday at TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur. Only four teams will be competing in the super league round after securing the berths in the final round. The final four teams were selected from the qualifying rounds of the national league held in different districts around the country last month among the 24 teams. The organizer, Nepal National Marwari Youth Association, organized a press conference inKathmanduon Tuesday and informed that the preparation for the tournament has been completed. Arihant Group Biratnagar, RMC Yodha Birgunj, Bagmati Chargers Bhairahawa and Maruti Suzuki Kathmandu will compete for the title in the super league round. The super league will be played in round robin format. Top two teams… Read More

Controversy has erupted in the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament after an over aged player was not allowed to play while another continues to play in the tournament. Skipper of Region No 3 Kathmandu, Sunam Gautam, was not allowed to play the match against Region No 1 Biratnagar citing age bar limit while another over-aged player Hasim Ansari of Region No 2 Birgunj played against Region No 8 Pokhara on Monday. According to Kiran Rana, member of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), Gautam has already crossed the age to play in the tournament. “Gautam was not allowed to play in the tournament as his registration in the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) during the U-17 in 2005 and U-19 in… Read More

Region No 2 Birgunj thrashed Region No 8 Pokhara by 83 runs on Monday to edge closer to the final of the ongoing Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament. Birgunj leads Group B with two wins and requires another victory to ensure a place in the final of the tournament being held inKathmandu. In the match played at the TU Ground, Kirtipur on Monday, Birgunj won the toss and opted to bat first. Birgunj was bowled out for 133 runs in 23.1 overs. Opener Hasim Ansari and Bijay Ghalan shared a 60-run partnership for the first wicket. Ghalan (7) was the first Birgunj batsman to be dismissed. Aggressive batsman Ansari returned to the pavilion after scoring 48 runs off 29… Read More

None of the top performers in the U-16 National Cricket Tournament held in March in Kathmandu have been called for the closed camp training of ACC U-16 Elite Cup Cricket Tournament to be held from May 2 to 13 inMalaysia. Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) on Sunday named 19 players for the camp but the list does not include Aquib Ali Ansari, Bhim Sarki and Iklakh Ahmed. Ansari was declared best batsman, Sarki the best bowler and Ahmed player of the series during U-16 National Tournament. But the players failed to pass the age verification test taken by CAN and Asian Cricket Council (ACC). According to the CAN member Kiran Rana, the three failed the age test. “CAN has sent… Read More

Region No 1 Biratnagar and Region No 2 Birgunj started the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament with victories on Sunday. Biratnagar defeated Region No 8 Pokhara by 43 runs and Birgunj beat Region No 3 Kathmandu by seven wickets. In the match played at Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk, Anup Karki’s unbeaten half century and Amit Dahal’s five wickets haul guided Biratnagar to victory. Batting first, Biratnagar posted a total of 169 runs in 43.4 overs losing all the wickets. Biratnagar lost its first wicket with the two runs on board and later continued to lose wickets in regular intervals. Biratnagar had lost its five wickets with 31 runs on board. Amit Dahal and Anup Karki shared 37-runs partnership for… Read More

Tim Brooks interviewed former Nepali captain Binod Das for his blog Cricket Atlas. It’s a fourth in the series of Big Questions interviews, focusing on leading associate players in period 2000-2010. Das, once recognised as the best seam bowler outside the Test arena, offers his insights into development issues, the primacy of Test cricket, the role of the ICC and Nepal’s lost opportunity of playing in India. What have been the biggest changes in the game for associate players since you started your career? The overall standards has gone up. Early in my career the ACC trophies or the associate tournaments were not that competitive but now every team has improved its standard. How significant has the introduction of professional… Read More

Lumbini lifted the title of Fourth National Blind Cricket Tournament defeating Kathmandu by six wickets on Thursday. With the win, Lumbini bagged Rs 14,000 while Kathmandu received Rs, 7,000. In the match played at Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk, Lumbini won the toss and invited Kathmandu to bat first. Kathmandu scored 164 runs losing eight wickets in 20 overs. Kritan Shrestha Duwal was the top scorer for Kathmandu with 48 runs. Kaushal Raymajhi scored 21 runs. Sunil Chhetri grabbed a wicket while seven other batsmen were short of the crease. Lumbini successfully chased the target of 165 runs in 17.5 overs for the loss of four wickets. Man-of-the-match Ram Prasad Poudel scored 64 runs while Shankar Regmi scored 26 runs. Jay… Read More

Nepali Cricketer Shakti Gauchan trained with the IPL team Rajasthan Royals last week. This created a buzz in Nepali cricket fraternity with fans hoping that he would somehow become the first Nepali player to play in IPL. It wasn’t to be as RR has already decided on the team. However, seeing that there was a lot of interest in Shakti in Nepal – including those in Social Media, the official twitter account of Rajasthan Royals put out a quiz question on April 4. Share “ Here’s a quiz question: There is a player from an associate nation in the Royals ranks. Identify the nation he hails from. rajasthanroyals Wed, Apr 04 2012 06:18:16 ReplyRetweet It wasn’t an easy question for… Read More

The fixture of U-16 Elite Cup, to be played in Malaysia next month, has been released by Asian Cricket Council (ACC). According to the fixture, Nepal will take on Kuwait on May 4 at Bayuemas Ground. Nepal will take on Bahrain on May 6 at Kinrara, Iran on May 8 and will face Malaysia on May 9 at Kinrara ground. Nepal finished second after losing to Singapore in the first edition held in Nepal in 2010. Singapore, Hong Kong, Oman and Thailand is placed in group A. the match will be of 40 overs.

Nepal’s most prolific cricket umpire Buddhi Pradhan could add a feather in his cap as he may get an opportunity to officiate English county matches for 2012 season.

Shakti Gauchan getting a call from IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals has taken over Nepali online social media sphere by storm. The latest in the trend is people searching for Shakti Gauchan in the largest cricket portal in the world ESPNcricinfo. There have been several groups urging to ‘like’ Shakti’s page on cricinfo. As a result, his likes have skyrocketed to more than 700 in past couple of days. The ‘likes’ was less than 50 just a few days ago. Interestingly, the top searches in ESPNcricinfo were: Mutthiah Muralitharan, ICC Rankings and Shakti Gauchan (in the same order). Click here for Shakti Gauchan’s profile page on cricinfo.