Young pacer Sompal Kami earned a place in the national squad for the first time and all-rounder Prithu Baskota returned into the team as Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced a 15-member Nepali team on Sunday for the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers to be held in New Zealand from January 13 to February 1, 2014.
As Kami and Baskota are included in the team, CAN has considered pacer Amrit Bhattarai and spinner Rahul Viswakarma only as reserved players.
Nepali bowler Sompal Kami
Besides, the two changes CAN has retained all the other players, who were in the team that qualified for the ICC World T20 from the qualifiers held in the UAE.
Kami has mad a reputation of a good pacer from the recently concluded U-19 National Tournament and cemented his place in the national side after claiming 10 wickets in the four matches played during the Journey to World Cup Cricket Tournament that concluded on Saturday.
Kami is also in the Nepali squad preparing for the ACC U-19 Asia Cup to be held in Malaysia. However, CAN officials are looking for his replacement in the U-19. “There is only few days gap between the two tournaments and as he is called up in the national squad, we’ll look for his replacement in the U-19 squad,” said Kiran Rana, member at CAN.
Baskota, who sustained knee-injury during national team’s closed-camp training in mid-September and completed all the rehabilitation process, made a comeback during the Journey to World Cup Cricket tournament, where he won the hearts of coach and selectors again.
Prithu Baskota
The team announced under the captaincy of Paras Khadka, Gyanendra Malla retained the role of vice-captain. Other members in the team are Sharad Vesawkar, Shakti Gauchan, Basant Regmi, Binod Bhandari, Pradeep Airee, Anil Mandal, Sagar Pun, Jitendra Mukhiya, Mahesh Chhetri, Subash Khakurel and Avinash Karn.
The CAN has considered Naresh Bahadur Budhayer and Ram Naresh Giri as reserved players along with Bhattarai and Viswakarma.
Nepal is drawn alongside the UAE, Scotland, Canada and Hong Kong in the group A of the qualifiers of the 50-over (One-Dayers) World Cup. Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Namibia and Uganda are drawn in the group B.
Top three teams of both the groups will progress to the second round super six play-offs.
Nepal will take on the UAE at Rangiora Oval in Christchurch on January 13 in its first match of the qualifiers. Nepal will lock horns with Scotland at QueenstownEventsCenter, Queenstown on January 16 and face Hong Kong on January 19 at Rangiora Oval. Nepal will take on Canada in its last group stage match on January 21 at Hagley Oval, Christchurch.
Ten sides are to battle in the qualifying tournament for the remaining two places in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, due to be played in Australia and New Zealand from 14 February to 29 March 2015.