Nepali national cricket team, which returned from India tour recently, has started training in Pokhara from Thursday.
It is the first time the national team has been training outside Kathmandu valley. The Nepali national team has been preparing for the upcoming ACC T20 Cup to be held in Kathmandu from March 26 to April 3.
National cricket team in a training session
(Photo Courtesy: Sudarshan Ranjit)
The national team includes under Paras Khadka´s captaincy retains Gyanendra Malla as vice-captain. Sharad Vesawkar, Amrit Bhattarai, Shakti Gauchan, Basanta Regmi, Sanjam Regmi, Pradeep Airee, Anil Mandal, Prithu Baskota, Subash Khakurel, Binod Bhandari, Manjeet Shrestha and Chandra Sawad complete the national team. Rahul Vishwakarma, Jitendra Mukhiya, Ram Naresh Giri and Sagar Pun are considered as reserve players for the ACC T20 Cup.
Coach Pubudu Dassanayake and Captain Paras Khadka in a training session in Pokhara. (Photo Courtesy: Sudarshan Ranjit)
Nepal has been drawn in Group A of the tournament along with Malaysia, Hong Kong, Maldives and Singapore. The UAE, Afghanistan, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain have been drawn in Group B.
The top two teams of the tournament will qualify for the World T20 Qualifiers to be held in the UAE in November. Afghanistan, a team with ODI status, and the UAE as the host have already secured their places for the qualifiers. In this scenario, if Afghanistan and the UAE reached the semifinals of the ACC T20 Cup, other two semifinalists would also automatically qualify for the World T20 Qualifiers.