Nepal announced a preliminary squad of 21 players for the ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournamnet to be held in Namibia from February 6 to 16, 2018.
The ICC WCL Div 2 teams include Canada, Oman, Kenya, UAE, Nepal and Namibia.
Sagar Pun and Binod Bhandari, two prominent players of the national team, failed to make to the preliminary squad. The selections were made by ICC’s representative Aminul Islam, head coach of the Nepal cricket team Jagat Tamata and captain Paras Khadka.
U-19 players Rashid Khan, Kishore Mahato, Rohit Kumar Paudel, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, and Anil Kumar Sah have been included in the squad.
Similarly, right-handed opening batsman Sunil Dhamala and middle-order batsman Sidhhant Lohani have made a comeback in the team after some gap. Dilip Nath remains the only recognized wicketkeeper-batsman in the squad after the omission of Binod Bhandari.
The selected players include captain Paras Khadka, Gyanendra Malla, Rohit Kumar Poudel, Karan KC, Anil Kumar Shah, Basanta Regmi, Dilip Nath, Dipendra Singh Aire, Dipesh Shrestha, Lalit Bhandari, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi and Aarif Sekh.
Likewise, other probables are Shakti Gauchan, Sharad Vesawkar, Siddhanta Lohani, Sompal Kami, Rashid Khan, Kishore Mahato, Sandip Lamichhane, Sunil Dhamala and Sushan Bhari.
The finalists of the ICC WCL Div 2 will qualify for the 10-team 2018 ICC World Cup Qualifiers to be held in Zimbabwe, from March 2 to 25, to battle out for last two remaining berths for the 2019 World Cup. The finalists will join West Indies, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Netherlands, Scotland, Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea.