Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has decided to send wicketkeeper-batsman Mahesh Chhetri and medium pacer Jitendra Mukhiya to Sri Lanka to join the national cricket team on its ongoing practice tour ahead of the ACC Emerging Teams Cup.
“The ongoing tour is part of preparations for not only the ACC tournament but also the upcoming ICC World T20 Qualifiers and the ICC World Cup Qualifiers. In this scenario, we want the maximum number of players to get exposure,” said Ashok Nath Pyakuryal, the general secretary of CAN.
Nepal has been drawn in Group B along with Afghanistan, Scotland, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Bermuda and Denmark for the ICC World T20 Qualifiers to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in November. Nepal will also vie for a World Cup berth in the qualifiers to be held in New Zealand in January 2014.
“Some of our players are suffering from minor injuries and we have some very important tournaments ahead. Therefore we decided not to take chances and to strengthen our bench players as well,” he added.
According to Pyakuryal, CAN will complete all the necessary arrangements to send the two players to Sri Lanka within this week.
The Nepali national cricket team, led by captain Paras Khadka and coach Pubudu Dassanayake, left Kathmandu on Thursday for a 14-day tour of Sri Lanka.
The Nepali team will play practice matches against the Sri Lankan U-23 team and a provincial team in Sri Lanka.
The team will fly to Singapore from Sri Lanka to compete in the ACC Emerging Teams Cup scheduled for August 17-25 after the practice tour concludes. Nepal will face India, Pakistan and Afghanistan in the group stage of the tournament, for which the Asian Test playing nations will send their U-23 teams.
General assembly in mid-Aug
CAN has decided to hold its annual general assembly in Pokhara in mid-August.
“We have decided to hold the general assembly in Pokhara in mid-August. However, we are yet to finalize all the programs. It could be a one-day (Aug 15) or two-day (Aug 14 and 15) program,” said Pyakuryal.
“Since it is just an annual general assembly, we are likely to endorse the ongoing plans and programs only,” he added.
New cricketing region
Meanwhile, CAN has decided to create a new cricketing region by splitting the current Region No 6 (Baitadi). The new region would be called Region No 9. “Our steering committee has decided to develop domestic cricket through nine regions. However, we are yet to decide the territories of the concerned regions,” said Pyakuryal.
Earlier, all the districts of Far-Western Development Region were in Region No 6 but this could change following the new decision and Region No 9 could have its base in Dhangadhi.
(Courtesy- Republica Daily)