Cricket Nepal (Archive)

Nepal will start its ICC World Cricket League Division 3 campaign on Sunday night (NST) as it take on well-known rival the USA in the first match at Somerset.

Nepal is considered as tournament favorite as it had defeated the USA in the league round and the final of the Division 4 last year and has good One-Day records against other teams like Oman and Italy.

It would be ninth encounter between Nepal and the USA in One-Day format on Sunday. Following the latest success, Nepal has superior record against the USA. Nepal had won four matches against the USA in the past while lost two. Two encounters were washed-out.

However, the inclusion of West Indian players in the USA team always puts it as one of the strongest sides in any tournaments of associate nations of ICC.

“Since they had lost last two matches with us in Division 4 and we are in the best shape to compare to the last 12 months, the pressure should be on them,” said Nepali team coach Pubudu Dassanayake before flying to Bermuda.

The USA has included former Test player of West Indies Neil Mcgarrell, who had played four Test matches in 2001. Mcgarrell, 40, had played 17 One-Day International matches for West Indies.

“We have heard about some West Indians in the USA squad and among them one had played even at the Test level. However, we don’t know about their qualities,” said Dassanayake.

The USA had defeated Uganda by 186 runs in a practice match on Wednesday while Nepal’s practice match against the Bermuda XI was washed out by rain. Captain Steve Massiah had scored a ton against Uganda during the practice match.

Meanwhile, Sushil Nadkarni, who had scored 272 runs in six matches he played against Nepal with an average of 64, could be another hurdle for Nepal on Sunday.

However, the slow and spinning wicket of Bermuda could help Nepali spinners to restrict the USA batsmen, as spin bowling is the strongest strength of Nepal. Left-hand spinner Rahul Vishwakarma, who had claimed seven wickets against the USA in the final of the Division 5 held in Kathmandu in 2010, could secure place within the 11 players facing the USA.

Nepali team attends training session in Bermuda. (Photo Courtesy: Raman Siwakoti/CAN)

Nepal is yet to decide the playing set to face the USA. However, it is almost certain that Nepali team would have a single slot for pace attack and either Amrit Bhattarai or Chandra Sawad will be rested.

For coach Pubudu Dassanayake, picking middle-order would be a tough task as Gyanendra Malla, Sharad Vesawkar, Binod Bhandari, Prithu Baskota and Pradeep Airee, all are batting well in recent time.

Subash Khakurel and Anil Mandal could open the innings for the Nepali team, captained by Paras Khadka.

“We are a balanced team with confidence and experience. We will win the tournament if we get only 80 percent of our potential during the tournament,” said Dassanayake.

Nepali team, which beat the USA in the league and final match of the Division 4, has a high morale for the Division 3. The ACC Trophy victory and the final clash against Afghanistan in recently concluded ACC T20 Cup have also boosted Nepal.

Uganda is entirely new team for Nepal while Nepal has won previous three encounters against Italy and two against Oman. Nepal had defeated Bermuda in the World T20 Qualifiers last year.

All these results put Nepal as the tournament favorite and boost Nepal’s hope of securing promotion to Division 2.

The top two sides of the WCL Division 3 will progress to the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier, which will be held in New Zealand in early 2014 and feature 10 of the leading Associate and Affiliate teams.  The top two sides from the New Zealand event will then advance to the 14-team ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, where they will join the 10 Test nations.

Nepal is to face the host Bermuda, Italy, Uganda and Oman in the rest of the Division 3 matches.

(By: Navin Khatiwada and Binod Pandey)

Dhangadhi Cricket Academy has started a school cricket program of its own. Former Nepal captain Binod Das and current member of Nepal team Shakti Gauchan inaugurated school cricket program in the Academy.

Both the players were apparently impressed by the talent seen in the U-12 cricketers that turned up for the inaugural of the program. These children will attend the coaching given to them every Saturday.

Some of the best talent found in the U-12 program of Dhangadhi Cricket Academy are to be sent to National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Kathmandu, after a stint in Dhangadhi itself. The selected players are to be provided full scholarship to be trained in Kathmandu. NCA is to take care of the expenses of the children once they’re here.

The U-12 cricket program is affiliated to the U-12 program of NCA. NCA launched its U-12 program in late January this year, with an aim to find talented young cricketers and imparting cricket skills to the players at early age. The program is also expected to increase the player pool base and popularize cricket among the school going children. Binod Das is also the coach of NCA.

Nepal’s quest for a third consecutive title in international cricket ended in a defeat on Wednesday as Afghanistan registered a seven-wicket victory in the final of the ACC Twenty20 Cup at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur.

Playing its first T20 final, Nepal was expecting to upset Afghanistan, the winner of the all three previous editions of the tournament. However, Afghanistan bowlers made things difficult for Nepal after their captain Mohammad Nabi won the toss and elected to field.

Afghanistan restricted Nepal to 135/6 and reached 137/3 with 13 balls remaining to maintain its dominance in the shortest version of the game on the Asian associate nations.

“We didn’t get a desired start and we took time to recover from an early damage. We were short of runs though there was no troublesome bowling from Afghanistan,” said Nepali skipper Paras Khadka.

“We lost two wickets early in the match and took time to recover. We were short by some 30-40 runs,” said Nepali team coach Pubudu Dassanayake.

“When I came here some 15 months ago, it was the same team but we were not even close to Afghanistan. I”m happy with the way we played in this tournament,” added Dassanayake.

Medium pacer Gulbadin Naib dismissed Nepali openers Subash Khakurel (10 runs) and Pradeep Airee (1 run) in his first two overs. Shapoor Zadran dismissed Gyanendra Malla (10 runs off 14 balls) to leave Nepal in panic at 23/3 in 4.3 overs.

Skipper Khadka and Binod Bhandari played cautiously for the next three overs to recover from the damage and build a partnership. Khadka and Bhandari put up a 71-run partnership off 71 balls to guide Nepal to a competitive total. Bhandari was caught by Aftab Alam at long off in the second ball of the 17th over bowled by Hamza Hotak. Bhandari scored 32 runs off 39 balls including three boundaries and a six.

Sharad Vesawkar joined skipper Khadka at the crease. They put up a 20-run partnership for the fifth wicket. However, Khadka was run out in the last ball of the 18th over, a result of misunderstanding between the batting partners. Khadka scored 50 runs off 40 balls with four boundaries and two sixes. It was his fifth T20 half-century and the second of the tournament. Prithu Baskota (2 runs) also lost his wicket in a similar fashion. Vesawkar remained unbeaten with 20 runs off 11 balls. He struck three boundaries in the last over off Aftab Alam.

Captain Mohammad Nabi was the most expensive bowler for Afghanistan as Nepali skipper Khadka smashed two boundaries and a six in the 18th over. Nabi gave away altogether 31 runs in his two overs.

Chasing the modest total, Afghanistan openers Karim Sadiq and Gulbadin Naib put up a 43-run opening stand by the completion of seventh over. Sadiq (32 runs off 25 balls) was run out by Prithu Baskota.

Naib, then, put up another 25-run partnership with Najibullah Zadran (15 runs) for the second wicket. Shakti Gauchan took the wicket of Zadran in the fourth ball of the 10th over. Paras Khadka dismissed Samiullah Shenwari (nine runs) in the 12th over but Naib stayed firm on the crease. He put up an unbeaten 54-run partnership with his captain Nabi as both of them played Nepali spinners with comfort to seal the victory. Naib remained unbeaten with 43 runs off 42 balls and Nabi clobbered 38 runs off 23 balls. Naib scored a boundary and a six while Nabi struck six boundaries. Naib was adjudged the man-of-the-match.

“We had included some youngsters in the team but all the boys put up a good performance throughout the tournament,” said Afghanistan captain Nabi. “We were under a little bit of pressure in the final since it was almost like playing against the crowd but we succeeded,” he added.

Khadka wins man-of-the-series

Nepali skipper Khadka was adjudged the man-of-the-series in the ACC T20 Cup. Khadka scored 207 runs with an average of 41.40 and strike rate of 141.78 in the tournament. He also claimed four wickets in the tournament.

It is the second consecutive man-of-the-series award for Khadka. He was adjudged the man-of-the-series in the ACC Trophy Elite held in the UAE six month ago.

Prizes for Nepali team

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced cash reward of Rs 50,000 each to members of the Nepali team for finishing runner-up in the tournament. CAN General Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakuryal made the announcement during the presentation ceremony.

Meanwhile, Hansraj and Hulaschand Company awarded a Pulsar-200 bike to Nepali skipper Khadka as the best Nepali player in the tournament. Company’s Executive Director Shekhar Golchha handed over the key of the bike to Khadka.

Likewise, Sachdeva Entrance Preparation’s owner Samir Jung Karki announced Rs 50,000 cash reward for the Nepali team.

Following Prithu Baskota’s early strikes with the ball, Pradeep Airee struck a half-century and Binod Bhandari played an important cameo with the bat as Nepal registered a six-wicket victory over the UAE on Tuesday to reach the final of ACC T20 Cup for the first time.

Nepal, which had crashed out from the group stage in the first two editions and reached the semifinals in the last edition, continued its sublime form to set up a final clash with Afghanistan in the ongoing fourth edition of the ACC T20 Cup.

The title clash with Afghanistan at the TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur on Wednesday will be Nepal’s third consecutive final in major tournaments. Nepal had won the ICC World Cricket League Division 4 in Malaysia in September 2012 and shared the ACC Trophy Elite title with the UAE in October 2012 after the final match ended in a tie.

However, Nepal moved a step ahead beating the giant associate nation at the TU Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

The UAE elected to bat and put up a modest total of 133/9 in the allotted 20 overs as Baskota claimed three wickets and Basanta Regmi and Shakti Gauchan dismissed two batsmen each. Sanjam Regmi took one wicket.

Chasing the total, Nepal met the target losing four wickets with five balls remaining as Airee scored 58 runs off 57 balls and Bhandari smashed an unbeaten 16 runs off six balls during his cameo with the bat toward the end.

It is Nepal’s third highest successful run-chase in T20 format. Earlier, Nepal had chased 157 runs against Bahrain in 2009 and 149 runs against Kenya in 2012.

“Prithu (Baskota) gave us the desired start in bowling and Pradeep (Airee) and other batsmen clicked at the right time,” Nepali skipper Paras Khadka summed up the match.

“Everybody is taking leadership and every member is capable of doing well. We did the same today and we beat them comfortably,” said Nepali team coach Pubudu Dassanayake.

On Tuesday, Nepal opened the bowling with pacer Amrit Bhattarai but skipper Paras Khadka introduced spinner Baskota in the very second over and the strategy paid off. Sharad Vesawkar caught Bakhtiyar Hamid (five runs) at backward point off Baskota. Baskota then claimed Amjad Ali´s wicket as Gyanendra Malla caught Ali at long-on in his second over. The UAE was at 15/2 in 3.1 overs.

Opener Abdul Shakoor (18 runs off 27 balls) and Swapnil Patil put up a 31-run partnership for the third wicket, the highest partnership of the UAE innings.

Patil and Roshan Mustafa (16 runs) shared a 29-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Patil contributed the highest 37 runs off 33 balls for the UAE. As wickets kept falling at regular intervals, the UAE was teetering at 90/6 in 15.1 overs.

Mohammad Azam (24 runs off 15 balls) and Amjad Javed (12 runs off 15 balls) put up another 31-run partnership for the seventh wicket.

The UAE added 39 runs in the last three overs to post a competitive total of 133/9. As Nepali bowlers dominated the show, the UAE struck only one six in the entire innings.

In reply, Nepali openers Subash Khakurel (22 runs off 37 balls) and Airee put up a 61-run opening stand. Khakurel was stumped in the third ball of the 10th over bowled by Ahmed Raza. Airee then put up a 39-run second-wicket partnership with Gyanendra Malla, who added 20 runs off 18 balls with a four and a six.

Airee, who got dropped twice by the UAE fielders when he was at 12 and 38, smashed five fours and two sixes to reach 58. It was the third T20 half-century for Airee at the international level and the second in the ongoing tournament. He was also stumped in the first ball of the 18th over bowled by Fayyaz Ahmed.

Ahmed then dismissed Basanta Regmi in the next ball. Nepali supporters were nervous when Regmi, who was promoted in the batting order to accelerate the innings, returned to the pavilion. Nepal was in need of 18 runs from the last two overs.

However, Bhandari came to the rescue hitting two sixes off Arshad Ali in the 19th over.

“He (Binod) proved he is a good batsman and can click any time. When I was batting alongside him, I was telling him that we have faith in him and he delivered,” said Nepali skipper Khadka about his batting partner.

Following Bhandari’s blistering knock, Khadka (12 runs off 8 balls) scored the winning runs in the first ball of the last over to set up a final clash with Afghanistan.

Earlier, Afghanistan thrashed Hong Kong by seven wickets in the first semifinal on Tuesday. Afghanistan bundled out Hong Kong for 109 runs in 19 overs and reached 112/3 in 17.1 overs.

Pursuing its World Cup dream, Nepali cricket team has inched closer to the World T20 Cup 2014 to be held in Bangladesh after advancing to the World T20 Qualifiers to be held in the UAE in November, thanks to its semifinal qualification in the ACC T20 Cup on Sunday.

Nepal registered the biggest ever T20 victory in terms of run margin against Singapore at the TU Cricket Ground on Sunday to secure berth in the World Cup Qualifiers for the second time in a row.

The top 16 associate members of International Cricket Council (ICC) will compete in the qualifiers. Of them, the top six teams will qualify for the World T20 Cup. Nepal had finished seventh in the last edition of the qualifiers.

Nepal elected to bat and put up a mammoth 210/5 in 20 overs as the middle-order batted brilliantly adding 133 runs in the last 10 overs.

The 210-run total is the biggest T20 score by Nepal so far. Nepal´s previous biggest total in T20 was the 183 runs scored against Saudi Arabia in the last edition of the tournament in 2011 in Kathmandu.

In reply, Singapore was all out for 89 runs in 15.1 overs as four Nepali spinners shared seven wickets to seal the 121-run victory.

Nepal´s previous biggest win in terms of runs was the 95-run victory over Saudi Arabia in 2011, while the team´s biggest win in terms of wickets is the nine-wicket victory over Singapore in 2009.

Binod Bhandari

“It was a team effort and I´m happy, but we still have a long way to go,” said Nepali captain Paras Khadka, who was adjudged the man-of-the-match for his 44 runs off 25 balls.

Following the win, Nepal reached the semifinals of the ACC T20 Cup as the runner-up of Group A, where Hong Kong is at the top of the table with four victories in the group stage. Hong Kong had defeated Nepal by six wickets in the group stage.

Nepal will take on the UAE in the semifinal on Tuesday while Hong Kong will lock horns with Afghanistan. UAE has topped Group B with four wins while Afghanistan is the runner-up with three victories.

Nepal and Hong Kong secured tickets to the World T20 Qualifiers as semifinalists. Afghanistan by virtue of its ODI status and the UAE as the host have already booked their berths in the qualifiers.

In the match full of records, Nepal made a nervous start as opener Subash Khakurel was caught by Amjad Mahboob off Shoaib Razzak in the first ball of the second over. Khakurel made five runs off three balls.

However, another opener Pradeep Airee and Binod Bhandari, who was promoted in the batting order, put up a 55-run partnership for the second wicket. Airee was caught by Chaminda Kumarage off Irfan Madakia in the fourth ball of the ninth over when he was batting at 30 off 32 balls.

Nepal accelerated the innings after captain Paras Khadka arrived at the crease when the team was progressing at 64/2. Khadka and Bhandari shared a 72-run partnership for the third wicket off 39 balls.

Bhandari scored 54 runs off 34 balls with three fours and four sixes. Bhandari dispatched Singapore bowler Madakia for a four and two consecutive sixes in the first three balls of the 11th over.

It was Bhandari´s maiden T20 half-century and the ninth by a Nepali batsman. Nepali captain Khadka has the most half-centuries in T20 with a tally of four.
Bhandari was caught by Madakia off Amjad Mahboob in the first ball of the 16th over.

Vice-captain Gyanendra Malla joined Khadka at the crease and gave momentum to Nepal´s innings. Malla smashed three sixes and a four in the 17th over bowled by Saad Janjua. Skipper Khadka was caught and bowled by Anish Param in the first ball of the 18th over after making 44 runs off 25 balls with four boundaries and a six.

Khadka and Malla shared a 29-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Malla departed three balls later, immediately after hitting his fourth six in the third ball of the over. Malla scored a quick 30 runs off 11 balls.

Bhandari and Malla became the third and fourth Nepali batsman respectively to hit four or more sixes in a T20 innings. Mehboob Alam had clobbered six sixes against Saudi Arabia in 2011 and Pradeep Airee had smashed four sixes against the Maldives in the opening match of the ongoing tournament.

Prithu Baskota (9 runs off 4 balls) and Sharad Vesawkar put up an unbeaten 38-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Vesawkar clobbered 26 runs off 11 balls with three sixes to guide Nepal to a mammoth total.

The Nepali innings included 12 sixes, the most by Nepali batsmen in an innings so far. Earlier, Nepali batsmen had hit eight sixes against Saudi Arabia in 2011.

“Everyone clicked at the right time, be it Binod Bhandari, Gyanendra Malla or Sharad Vesawkar,” said Nepali team coach Pubudu Dassanayake. “Everyone batted well and this form could help us more in the upcoming matches,” he added.

“Scoring 200-plus was exceptional and more importantly everybody is contributing for the team,” said Nepali captain Khadka.

In reply, Singapore batsmen fell victim to poor shot selection and had no answer to Nepal´s spinners. Pacer Chandra Sawad bowled Rezza Gaznavi (one run) in the fourth ball of the first over and skipper Khadka trapped Arjun Mutreja (6 runs) lbw in the next over.

Nepali spinners shared seven wickets among the four of them while skipper Khadka was involved in a brilliant run-out of Amjad Mahboob as Singapore was bundled out for 89 runs.

Basanta Regmi claimed three wickets with a bowling figure of 4-1-17-3. Shakti Gauchan dismissed two Singapore batsmen while Prithu Baskota and debutant Sagar Pun claimed a wicket each.

Pun, the Nepali U-19 star who was a reserve player in the Nepali team, was included in the 14-member team replacing Anil Mandal for the first time on Saturday. The off-spinner won his first cap for the national team as Sanjam Regmi was rested for the match against Singapore.

Singapore captain Saad Janjua was the top scorer with 20 runs off 12 balls while Kshitij Shinde (15 runs), Mahboob (16 runs) and Shoaib Razzak (12 runs) were the other major contributors. The 31-run partnership between Mahboob and Shinde for the seventh wicket was the highest of the Singapore innings.

“I’m happy to qualify for the semifinals but I can be content only after winning the tournament,” said Nepali skipper Khadka. “We have no option other than winning the semifinal against the UAE and I hope we can enjoy the support of home crowd in the upcoming matches,” he added.

Skipper Paras Khadka’s brilliant innings helped Nepal to seal a 19-run victory over Malaysia in the ACC T20 Cup on Saturday and strengthen semifinal chances.

As Nepal and Malaysia are to face relatively minnows of the tournament in their last group-stage matches and Nepal has a good net run rate in the tournament, Saturday’s match was considered a virtual quarterfinal.

Malaysia elected to field first at the TU Cricket Ground but Nepali skipper Khadka’s valiant knocks of 87 runs off 54 balls helped Nepal to reach 163/8 in 20 overs. In reply, Malaysia reached only 144/9 though Shafiq Sharif tried to boost Malaysian hopes by scoring 53 runs off 38 balls.

Nepal failed to have good start as opener Pradeep Airee was duck out in the very first over and Vice-captain Gyanendra Malla added only two runs before Nazril Rahman’s inswinger as well as slower delivery deceived him. Nepal was at 16/2 by 2.1 overs but skipper Khadka not only anchored Nepali innings but also speed up. Opener Subash Khakurel (25 runs off 23 balls) and Khadka put up a 48-run partnership for third wicket. Khadka, then put up a 49-run fourth wicket partnership with Binod Bhandari. Bhandari scored 20 runs off 16 balls including two boundaries and a six.

Khadka struck 11 boundaries and three sixes before Ahmed Faiz caught him at long off in a Hassan Ghulam’s delivery. Malaysian skipper Suhan Kumar had a chance to caught Khadka when he was at 79 runs but Kumar at the mid-off region could not reach the ball despite valiant dive. Khadka reached the half-century hitting a four with a skillful cut to third man in the fifth ball of 12th over bowled by Shahrulnizam Yusof. He faced 34 balls to reach half-century mark.

Paras Khadka plays a shot

It was fourth T20 half-century for Khadka. Earlier, Khadka had scored half-centuries against Hong Kong (68), Bermuda (unbeaten 65) and Papua New Guinea (62) during the ICC World T20 Qualifiers in 2012.

Khadka’s 87-run knock is the all time second highest individual score by Nepali batsman in T20 at the international level. Earlier  Mehboob Alam had scored 88 runs against Saudi Arabia during the ACC T20 Cup in 2011.

Prithu Baskota scored seven runs off eight balls while Shakti Gauchan remained unbeaten with six runs off four balls.

Malaysian bowler Nazril Rahman, Khizar Hayat Durrani, Shahrulnizam Yusof and Hassan Ghulam claimed two wickets each.

Defending the 164-run target, Nepali bowlers picked wickets in regular interval to limit Malaysia 19 runs short of the target. Basant Regmi bowled Faizal Abu Hassan (6 runs) in the second over, when Malaysia was at 20/0. Sanjam Regmi caught Suharril Fetri (6 runs) at long-on boundary off Prithu Baskota in the fourth over. Malaysian opener Hammad Ullah Khan (33 runs off 18 balls) was also caught by Gyanendra Malla at deep mid-wicket off Banskota as Malaysian third wicket in the second ball of the sixth over.

To add misery to Malaysia, its captain Suhan Kumar was run out in a bizarre fashion for only one run. Ahmed Faiz didn’t come out of his crease despite Kumar completed the run. Kumar is considered as the most destructive Malaysian batsman. Faiz also got out in the first ball of 11th over adding 19 runs off 20 balls. Faiz was cut by Basant Regmi at long-on off Shakti Gauchan.

For Malaysia, the 31-run eighth wicket partnership between Shafiq Sharif and Hassan Ghulam (10 runs off seven balls) was the highest. Ghulam was caught by Basant Regmi at long-off boundary off pacer Chandra Sawad in 18.3 overs. A ball earlier, Baskotata had dropped Ghulam at long-on boundary.

Sharif tried to anchor Malaysian innings at first and then tried to speed it up hitting four boundaries and two sixes during his innings of unbeaten 53 off 38 balls but he was hapless as wickets kept on falling on the other end.

Baskota and Sanjam Regmi claimed two wickets each while Sawad, Basant Regmi and Gauchan took a wicket apiece.

Nepali captain Khadka, who was also involved in two run-out incidents, was adjudged man-of-the-match. Khadka was the Nepali fielder to trap run-out to Malaysian captain Kumar and Durrani (nine runs).

“I am happy to contribute for the team. We were committed not to let our labor of last three months go in vain and it was a team performance more than an individual effort,” said Khadka.

Paras Khadka waves bat after scoring half-century against Malaysia.

Khadka received Rs 60,000 for his performance on Saturday. He has received Rs 50,000 from Global Model Visa Consultancy, which had promised to provide the sum to any Nepali batsman to score more than 75 runs in a match. Likewise, he received Rs 10,000 for being man-of-the-match from the venue management committee.

“Paras (Khadka) is the best captain of the tournament and he played a good innings today (Saturday),” said Malaysian coach Roy Luke Dias, who was the coach of Nepal team for 10 years before Pubudu Dassanayake. “The innings played by Paras changed the game while the run-out incident of Suhan Kumar turned out to be unfortunate for my side,” added Dias.

Meanwhile, Nepali team coach Dassanayake said that his side put up a good performance as per his plans. “I am not surprised with the outcome that we got today. Malaysian didn’t give up until the last moment but our players put up a expected performance to beat them,” said Dassanayake.

With the win, Nepal strengthened its chance to qualify for the semifinal as it has four points from three matches. Hong Kong, which remained undefeated in all the four matches of the group stage, is at the top of the points table with eight points. Malaysia is on the third place with two points off three matches and superior net run rate than the Maldives, which also has two points from three matches.

Nepal is to take on Singapore, which is at the bottom, in its last group-stage match on Sunday while Malaysia is to face the Maldives. If Nepal wins Sunday’s match, Nepal will reach last four despite any result in between Malaysia and the Maldives. Even if Nepal loses, net run rate will come in count decide Nepal’s fate.

Top two teams of the tournament, except the UAE and Afghanistan, will progress to the ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2013. The UAE has already secured place in the qualifiers as the host and Afghanistan has its berth guaranteed as a nation with ODI-status.

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) called 32 players in the first phase of the closed camp training on Friday for the upcoming ACC U-19 Elite Cup. The ACC U-19 Elite Cup is scheduled to begin on May 1 in Malaysia.

CAN has called five players each from Region No 2 (Birgunj), Region No 3 (Kathmandu) and Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) in the closed camp training. Likewise, four players each from Region No 1 (Biratnagar), Region No 6 (Baitadi) and Region No 7 (Janakpur), three players from Region No 8 (Pokhara) as well as two players from Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) are also called in the closed camp.

Amit Dahal, Kalicharan Yadav, Mayanand Chaudhary and Suman Shrestha of Biratnagar are in the list of 32 players while Avinash Karn, Ram Naresh Giri, Suraj Kumar Kurmi, Amit Shrestha and Irshad Ahamed of Birgunj are also called in.

Likewise, the CAN has called Region No 3 players Prakash Bista (A), Prakash Bista (B), Sarad Khadka, Bibas Thapa and Pawan Shrestha as well as Region No 4 players Sabin Shakya, Nirmal Thapa, Prakash KC, Bibek Chaudhary and Sushant Bhari.

Amar Singh Rautela and Imaudin Halwai of Nepalgunj, Bhuban Karki, Prem Tamang, Arjun Chapagain and Yagyaman Kumal of Baitadi as well as Sameer Nepal, Avishek Jha, Rahul Pratap Singh and Hari Shankar Shah of Janakpur are also included in the list of 32. Nischal Pandey, Anil Gurung and Dhurba Karki are the players of Region No 8 to make into the list of 32.

“The training camp will start in Pokhara from April 2. We have asked all the players to report in Pokhara on April 1,” said Kiran Rana, the member of the CAN executive committee. According to Rana, Jagat Tamata will look after the training camp in Pokhara. “National team coach Pubudu Dassanayake will join the U-19 team in Kathmandu as the second phase of training will be held in Kathmandu,” he added.

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.

Nepal defeated Dronacharya Club, Greater Noida by nine wickets on Thursday in its fourth practice match.

Nepal is touring to Delhi, India in its preparation bid for the upcoming ACC T20 Elite Cup and ICC World Cricket League Division 3.

The host, Dronacharya Club, elected to bat but was all out for 73 runs in 28.5 overs. The match was reduced to 35 overs per side due to technical reasons. Rahul Vishwakarma claimed three wickets while Basant Regmi and Ram Naresh Giri took two wickets for Nepal. Amrit Bhattarai and Shakti Gauchan dismissed a batsman each. Shubhankar Shudha was the top scorer for home team with 22 runs off 33 balls. Abhay Pratap and Rahul Siddhu added 16 runs each.

In reply, Nepal met the target in 11.5 overs losing only one wicket. Anil Mandal scored unbeaten 34 runs off 37 balls while Sagar Pun remained not out with nine runs. Opener Subash Khakurel added 28 runs before Anurag Pandey dismissed him.

Earlier on Wednesday, Nepali national cricket team lost to Telefunkin Cricket Club, Delhi by seven wickets in its third practice match.

Nepali team had won it first match against DI Khan Coaching Center on Sunday but lost to VijayDhaiyaAcademy on Monday.

On Wednesday, Telefunkin invited the visiting team for batting first and restricted Nepal to 217/9 in 45 overs. In the match reduced to 45 overs per side due to technical problems, Telefunkin reached the target in 36.3 overs losing only three wickets.

Sharad Vesawkar top scored for the Nepali side with 58 runs off 65 balls. In his anchoring innings, Vesawkar struck two boundaries and three sixes. Skipper Paras Khadka clobbered 57 runs off 44 balls including seven boundaries and a six. Gyanendra Malla and opener Subash Khakurel chipped in batting scoring 27 runs each. Malla faced 33 balls and struck five boundaries while Khakurel toiled hard to score 27 runs as he faced 65 balls and struck only two boundaries.

Gourav Kochar dismissed four Nepali batsmen while Pradeep Singh, Bharat Sindwani, Mayank Dagar, Nitesh Kumar and Ankit Dabas claimed a wicket each for the home team.

Chasing 218-run target, Deepak Khatri scored unbeaten 82 runs off 78 balls to guide the home team to an easy victory. Ankit Dabas clobbered 65 runs off 45 balls while Nirbhay Godlaw remained not out with 48 runs off 67 balls. Gaurav Kochar added 19 runs off 27 balls.

Sanjam Regmi, Rahul Vishwakarma and Ram Naresh Giri claimed a wicket each for Nepal.

Nepali team has a plan to play four 50-over matches and six T20s against local academies and clubs during the tour that ends on March 10.

Nepali national cricket team suffered defeat in the second practice match of their India tour on Monday.

Vijay Dhaiya Academy, Delhi beat Nepal by seven runs in the match reduced to 40 overs per side due to technical reason.

Nepal elected to field first at the Vijay Dhaiya Academy Ground. The home team put up a good batting performance and reached 203/5 in 40 overs. Vijay Bhardwaj clobbered unbeaten 63 runs off 48 balls while Vivek Rana scored 63 runs off 84 balls. Saurav Kumar remained not out with 39 runs off 35 balls while Ankur Jhulka chipped in with 22 runs off 36 balls.

Sagar Pun claimed two wickets for Nepal. His bowling figure was 4-0-22-2. Basanta Regmi, Amrit Bhattarai and Shakti Gauchan took a wicket each.

Chasing the good total, Nepal was all out for 196 runs in 39.3 overs. Opener Anil Mandal scored 66 runs off 68 balls. He struck 11 boundaries in his anchoring innings. Basanta Regmi scored 23 runs off 30 balls.

Rest of the Nepali batsmen got the score but could not continue the momentum in building innings. Prithu Baskota (14 runs), Sharad Vesawkar (14 runs), Subash Khakurel (13 runs), Sagar Pun (12 runs) and Binod Bhandari (12 runs) were the other contributors.

Saurav Kumar and Satinder Thakran claimed three wickets each for the home team to bowl out Nepal. Pradeep Parasan dismissed two Nepali batsmen while Navin Dhaiya and Naveen Dhaiya took a wicket each.

Nepali team is touring India in its preparation for the upcoming ACC T20 Elite Cup and ICC World Cricket League Division 3.

Nepali team plans to play four 50-over matches and six T20s against local academies and clubs during the tour that ends March 10.

Nepal is to host the ACC T20 Cup from March 26 to April 3 in Kathmandu while Nepal is to visit Bermuda for Division 3 scheduled for April 28 to May 5.

Nepali national cricket team started its India tour in a winning note as it defeated DI Khan Coaching Center, Delhi by 42 runs in the first practice match on Sunday.

Nepali team, which is touring India in its preparation bid for the ACC T20 Elite Cup and ICC World Cricket League Division 3, elected to bat at the DI Khan Senior Secondary School Ground, Delhi.

Nepal was all out for 203 runs in 39.3 overs in the match reduced to 40 overs per side due to wet outfield. According to Nepali team’s Technical Analyst Raman Siwakoti, Binod Bhandari top scored for Nepal. Bhandari clobbered 69 runs off 56 balls including six boundaries and four sixes. Sharad Vesawkar scored 42 runs off 58 balls while Subash Khakurel hit 34 runs off 44 balls. Anil Mandal scored 16 runs off 38 balls.

Aman Sirohi claimed six wickets for the Center. Sirohi bowled eight overs and gave away 50 runs to dismiss six Nepali batsmen. Nikunj Khandelwal claimed two wickets.

Nepali bowlers responded equally good and bundled out the home team for 161 runs in 39.3 overs. Aditya Saini scored 37 runs off 65 balls and Sunny Shankwar added 23 runs off 29 balls. Sagar Kalyan chipped in with 21 runs off 30 balls but could not guide the home team to victory.

Nepali captain Paras Khadka took three wickets. His bowling figure was 6-0-19-3. Basant Regmi and Chandra Sawad claimed two wickets each. Amrit Bhattarai and Shakti Gauchan dismissed one home batsman each.

Nepal will play its second 50-over practice match against VijayDahiyaAcademy on Monday.

Nepali team has a plan to play four 50-over matches and six T20s against local academies and clubs during the tour that ends on March 10.

Nepal is to host the ACC T20 Cup from March 26 to April 3 in Kathmandu while Nepal is to visit Bermuda for Division 3 scheduled for April 28 to May 5.

Spinner Bhuwan Karki will get a chance to train with Indian Premier League (IPL) side Rajasthan Royals for a month, unless and until any unruly happens.

Nepali national team coach Pubudu Dassanayake has arranged thre training program for Karki with the IPL side owned by Bollywood beauty Shilpa Shetty.

Dassanayake made the training arrangement using his personal relation with the Rajasthan Royals Coach Monty Desai. Dassanayake, who was the coach of Canada from 2007 to 2011, has a good relation with Desai, who was the consultant coach of the Canada team during World T20 Qualifiers held in the UAE last year.

Desai had called Nepali all-rounder Shakti Gauchan to Rajasthan for trial last year after watching latter’s performances in the qualifiers.

Rajasthan Royals is to start its training camp in Jaipur from March 22. According to Dassanayake, spinner Karki will reach Jaipur by the third week of March and stay there for a month. The sixth edition of the IPL is to begin from April 3. Rajasthan is to take on Delhi Daredevils on April 6 in its first match of the season.

“All the senior players will be busy in the preparation for the ICC World Cricket League Dvision 3 to be held in Bermuda. Thus, I recommended Bhuwan (Karki) for the training,” said Dassanayake. “He is key bowler of the U-19 team and he is setting up very well. I hope, it would be a good exposure for Bhuwan,” he added.

Dassanayake said that training with the team is the maximum achievement for the time being since securing berths in the team through foreign quota is too difficult for Nepali cricketers.

Dassanayake had informed Karki about the training arrangement on Thursday. “I was surprised to hear about the training arrangement from the coach. It is an opportunity for me to learn cricket at the top level,” said Karki.

Indian cricket great Rahul Dravid and contemporary world class cricketers like Shane Watson, Brad Hodge and Ajinkya Rahane are in the Rajasthan Royals team. “I want to be spotted by these cricketers. However, I have no particular plans on how to bowl them,” said 19-year old Karki, who hails from Dhangadhi.

Karki, who is going through official procedure of joining Armed Police Force, has already played for the senior and age group national squads. He had played in the ACC U-15 Elite Cup in 2007 in Kathmandu as his first international tournament.  Karki, who played in the ACC U-19, U-19 World Cup Qualifiers, ACC U-19 Asia Cup and U-19 World Cup in the last three years, claimed 33 wickets from 24 matches at the international level. In his U-19 international career, he had bowled 37 maiden overs and is considered as one of the economic Nepali bowlers.

Karki had debuted in the national squad from the ACC Trophy Elite held in the UAE five months ago.

“I have an image of economic bowler. I enjoy bowling dot balls. I’ll try to repeat same in Rajasthan,” said Karki.

Gauchan, who had trained with Rajasthan last year, said that the training will help Karki individually and Nepali cricket eventually. “It was awesome experience for me to train with Rajasthan. I learnt how to bowl to the players with great caliber. The training gave me a huge morale boost,” said Gauchan. “Bhuwan (Karki) has a chance of training for one month, which is much more than one-week experience of mine. I hope it would be a great experience for young player like Bhuwan (Karki),” he added.

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced preliminary 18-member national squad on Friday for the upcoming ACC T20 Elite Cup and ICC World Cricket League Division 3.

The preliminary squad includes pacer Chandra Saud and Rahul Vishwakarma, who were left out in the final squad of ACC Elite Trophy held in the UAE in October 2012 because of injuries.

U-19 batsman Sagar Pun and bowler Ram Naresh Giri secured their berths in the preliminary squad while another U-19 player Jitendra Kumar Mukhiya is also in the team.

Coach Pubudu Dassanayake did not consider former Captain Binod Das, who is yet to recover fully from injuries, for the team whereas another pacer Manjeet Shrestha is included in the team.

Bhuwan Karki, who is going through the recruitment process of Armed Police Force, is also not in the team. Karki was in the national squad during the ACC Trophy Elite.

Captain Paras Khadka, Subash Khakurel, Gyanendra Malla, Prithu Baskota, Pradeep Airee, Binod Bhandari, Basant Regmi, Sharad Vesawkar, Shakti Gauchan and Anil Kumar Mandal retained their places in the squad.

The preliminary squad along with Coach Dassanayake, Technical Assistant Raman Siwakoti and Manager Basanta Raj Satyal is to tour Delhi, India from Saturday. Nepali national squad is to play four 50-over matches and six T20 matches in India against local clubs and academies in its preparation bid for the ACC T20 Elite Cup and ICC World Cricket League Division 3. The India tour will end on March 10.

The tour will help us by exposing our weaknesses,” said Dassanayake. The final squad (14-member squad) will be announced during the tour.

Kathmandu will host the ACC T20 Cup from March 26 to April 3 while Nepal is to visit Bermuda for Division 3 scheduled for April 28 to May 5.

As both the tournaments could open passage to respective World Cups for Nepal, Dassanayake is busy in preparing strategies for both the tournaments. However, he is more focused on the ACC T20 Cup for time being as there is only a month time to prepare for it.

“It is the best chance to win the T20 tournament since all the boys are pumped up with recent success and are in good shape,” said Dassanayake.

“In terms of skill, boys are good in playing basic cricketing shots. They can play ground shots with comfort. However, I want some power hitting from boys during the T20,” said Dassanayake.

Dassanayake said that the main challenge for him is to maintain peak form of the players during the tournament. “We have to improve fitness level and we are working on it,” he said.

Dassanayake wants to build momentum in the T20 tournament from the very first match against Maldives. “We are capable of beating top associate nations and we want to beat the UAE and Afghanistan here. However, nothing is easy. What we need is momentum from the very first game,” he said.

Nepal will take on Maldives on March 26, Hong Kong on March 27, Malaysia on March 30 and Singapore in March 31.Top two teams of the tournament will progress to World T20 Qualifiers to be held in the UAE in November. Afghanistan and the UAE are already in the qualifiers as an ODI nation and the host respectively.

Practice Matches in Delhi

50-over

Feb 24 – Vs DI Khan Coaching Center

Feb 25 – Vs VijayDahiyaAcademy

Feb 27 – Vs Telefunken Coaching Center

Feb 28 – Vs Dronacharya Club

T20s

March 1 – Vs DDCA ‘A’ Team

March 3 – Vs Bharat Nagar Coaching Center

March 4 – Vs TalwarCricketAcademy

March 6 – Vs SurendraKhannaAcademy

March 8 – Vs VidyaJainAcademy

March 9 – TBC

Region No 1 (Biratnagar) pulled a 10-run victory over Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) at the Pokhara Stadium on Thursday to clinch the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament.

Biratnagar elected to bat and was all out for 168 runs in 49.5 overs. In reply, Bhairahawa was all out for 158 in 49.1 overs.

It was maiden U-19 title for Biratnagar. Biratnagar has reached the final of the U-19 national for the first time in 10 years. Biratnagar had played its last U-19 final in 2003, when it was beaten by Bhairahawa.

Biratnagar opener Amol Das started the innings in style scoring 19 runs off seven balls including three boundaries and a six. Biratanagar lost wickets in quick span and limited to 27/4 by eight overs. However, Amit Dahal and Suman Shrestha put up an 86-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Dahal scored 36 runs off 82 balls while Shrestha garnered 31 runs off 57 balls. Tail-enders Rohit Singh and Kalicharan Yadav chipped in batting with 17 runs off 41 balls and 21 runs off 34 balls respectively.

Devendra Somare dismissed three Biratnagar batsmen while Eklakh Ahamed took two wickets. Susan Bhari, Krishna Sen, Bibek Chaudhary and Ganesh Gaudel claimed a wicket each to bowl out Biratnagar. However, Bhairahawa bowlers gave away 30 extras, which cost dearer to the team ultimately.

Chasing the 169-run target, Bhairahawa fell 10-run short. Susan Bhari was top scorer for Bhairahawa as he garnered 45 runs off 63 balls. Ganesh Gaudel (24 runs off 60 balls), Krishna Sen (17 runs off 45 balls), Man Bahadur Thapa (15 runs off 17 balls) and Eklakh Ahamed (unbeaten 14 runs off 31 balls) chipped in batting but all fell to guide Bhairahawa to the target.

Man-of-the-match Kalicharan Yadav claimed four wickets while Mukund Yadav took two wickets. Mayanand Chaudhary claimed a wicket for Biratnagar. Though the Biratnagar bowled 22 extras, three run outs helped them to seal the 10-run victory.

With the win, Biratnagar bagged Rs 25000 while runner-up Bhairahawa got Rs 15,000.

Avinash Karn of Region No 2 (Birgunj) claimed 14 wickets in the tournament and was adjudged man-of-the-series. Amit Dahal of Biratnagar took 11 wickets in the tournament and received the award for the best bowler. Kathmandu batsman Prakash Bista, who scored 115 runs in the tournament, was adjudged the best batsmen. Karn, Dahal, Bista and man-of-the-final Yadav received Rs 5,000 each.

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) President Tanka Angbuhang, CG Foods AGM Lal Babu Prasad and other CAN officials gave away the prizes to the winners.

Region No 4 (Bhairahawa) set up a title clash with Region No 1 (Biratnagar) in the Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament defeating Region No 5 (Nepalgunj) by six wickets in the semifinal held in Pokhara on Wednesday.

Nepalgunj elected to bat at the Pokhara Stadium and was all out for 179 runs in 49.4 overs. In reply, Bhairahawa reached 183/4 in 36.1 overs. Biratnagar had defeated Region No 2 (Birgunj) by one wicket in the first semifinal on Tuesday.

Nepalgunj openers Siddhant Shahi and Wasim Halwai (20 runs off 64 balls) put up a 65-run partnership. Shahi, then, put up a 22-run stand for the second wicket with Prajjwal Shahi (10 runs off 14 balls). Siddhant was run out after scoring 52 runs off 75 balls. He struck seven fours and a six.

In the middle order, Rahul Pokharel scored 14 runs off 31 balls while Amar Singh Routela added 14 runs off 34 balls. Akash Bista chipped in with 10 runs off nine balls. Batting at No 10, Inamuddin Halwai played a crucial role to guide Nepalgunj to a respectable total. He clobbered 33 runs off 28 balls with three fours and two sixes. Halwai put up a 36-run partnership with last man Bhupendra Rokka Magar (2 runs off 15 balls).

Bibek Chaudhary dismissed three batsmen of Nepalgunj while Susan Bhari took two wickets. Devendra Somare, Ikhlaq Ahmed and Nirmal Thapa claimed a wicket each.

Opener Shankar Rana provided a blistering start to Bhairahawa´s run-chase blasting 27 runs off 19 balls with four fours and a six. Rana shared a 38-run opening partnership with Nirmal Thapa before his dismissal in the third ball of the fourth over off Bhupendra Rokka.

Thapa anchored the Bhairahawa innings and scored 65 runs off 95 balls with seven boundaries. Thapa put up a 49-run partnership with Sabin Shakya (17 runs off 33 balls) for the second wicket.

Bijay Sunar returned to the pavilion scoring only one run off three balls but Thapa and Prakash KC put up a 76-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Thapa was caught by Routela off Akash Bista in the first ball of the 35th over, when Bhairahawa had reached 168 runs.

Prakash KC remained unbeaten on 41 runs off 66 balls and Krishna Sen was not out on one run off three balls. Rokka, Bista, Siddhant Shahi and Inamuddin Halwai claimed a wicket each for Nepalgunj.

Bhairahawa all-rounder Nirmal Thapa, who scored 65 runs and took a wicket, was adjudged the man-of-the-match.

The final match will be played on Thursday at the Pokhara Stadium.

Kalicharan Yadav completed a five-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, to help Region No 1 (Biratnagar) pull off a thrilling one-wicket victory over Region No 2 (Birgunj) in the semifinal of Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament in Pokhara on Tuesday.

Kalicharan took the first ever hat-trick in the domestic age-group tournament as Biratnagar reached the final of the U-19 national tournament for the first time in 10 years. Biratnagar had played its last U-19 final in 2003, when it was beaten by Bhairahawa.

Birgunj elected to bat at the Pokhara Stadium but was all out for 89 runs in 36.1 overs as Biratnagar bowlers dominated the match.

Biratnagar bowler Rohit Singh dismissed Birgunj opener Amit Shrestha (1 run) in the fifth ball of the second over. Then, Yadav picked four wickets in consecutive deliveries in the third over. He dismissed Birgunj opener Arif Sheikh (3 runs) in the second ball of the third over and took the wickets of Suraj Prasad Kurmi, Kanchan Thapa and Bijay Ghalan in the next three balls.

Singh claimed the wicket of Bikram Basnet (1 run) and Yadav trapped Ram Naresh Giri LBW to leave Birgunj reeling at 9/7 in 6.3 overs. Yadav finished with a bowling figure of 8-2-24-5.

The Birjunj tail-enders, however, showed some resistance. Nabin Yadav scored seven runs off 33 balls before Amit Dahal dismissed him. Mustakim Miya added 22 runs off 51 balls before falling to Dahal.

Batting at No 10, Avinash Karn remained unbeaten on 27 runs off 71 balls while Irshad Ahmed chipped in with 11 runs off 27 balls. Rohit Singh took Ahmed´s wicket in the first ball of 37th over to wrap-up the Birgunj innings.

Chasing a low target, Biratnagar suffered hiccups as it lost opener Somesh Yadav for a duck in the second ball of the innings. Another opener Amol Das (21 runs off 20 balls) and Mayanand Chaudhary (9 runs off 40 balls) put up a 32-run partnership for the second wicket. Biratnagar kept losing wickets at regular intervals but Ankit Subedi´s 10 runs off 32 balls and No 10 batsman Amit Dahal´s unbeaten 12 runs off 21 balls guided Biratnagar to a thrilling victory.

Biratnagar was at 85/9 in 35.4 overs but Heman Rai, batting at No 11, stayed till the end facing eight balls though he did not score any run. Earlier, cheap dismissals of Suman Shrestha (5 runs off 25 balls), Rohit Singh (2 runs off 33 balls), Niraj Shah (8 runs off 28 balls) and Kalicharan Yadav (1 run off 15 balls) had put Biratnagar in a difficult position. Birgunj bowlers gifted 22 extras to Biratnagar.

Avinash Karn took three wickets while Ram Naresh Giri, Nabin Yadav, Irshad Ahmed and Arif Sheikh claimed a wicket each.

Biratnagar medium-pacer Kalicharan Yadav, who has played for the Nepali U-16 team at the international level, was adjudged the man-of-the-match for his brilliant bowling performance.

Four months after winning the ACC Trophy Elite in the UAE, Nepali cricketers are yet to receive state honor for the national team´s biggest achievement in international cricket.

However, some non-resident Nepalis (NRNs) in the UAE have expressed willingness to lend their helping hands to build an indoor training facility for the cricketers.

NRN UAE and Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) are planning to construct an indoor facility at Mulpani cricket ground before the onset of monsoon.

“We are planning to bring the facility into operation by the end of this summer (Jestha) so that our players can practice during the rainy season,” CAN President Tanka Angbuhang said during a press conference organized in the capital on Saturday.

According to CAN officials, construction of the indoor facility will begin soon. The estimated cost of constructing the indoor facility is Rs 6.2 million.

Nepali cricket officials Uttam Karmacharya and Keshav Pahari had pointed out the need for an indoor facility to NRN UAE during the ACC Trophy Elite. It was then that NRN UAE decided to work in coordination with CAN to build an indoor facility for national players.

“We developed a close affinity with the Nepali players who have made frequent tours to the UAE. During their visit, Nepali officials requested for financial help to build an indoor facility. We forwarded this proposal to our central working committee and it was approved unanimously,” said Chandra Rokaya, president of NRN UAE.

“Our target is to complete the facility before monsoon. Although the facility will be available for training in a few months, we have requested CAN to inaugurate it only in October coinciding with the NRN general assembly,” he added.

Mulpani cricket ground is still under construction because of fund crunch. In 2002, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had announced to construct a WorldCricketAcademy in Mulpani but later cancelled the plan. After that, there were plans to construct Asian level cricket academy which also could not materialize.

Then in 2007, CAN took the initiative to develop Mulpani as a cricket ground. Two years ago, the government had allocated Rs 40 million for the project, which sufficed only to complete half the construction works.

“CAN is still not able to stand on its own. So we also request all other NRN associations in 63 countries to lend their helping hands,” said CAN President Angbuhang.

Meanwhile, CAN General Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakurel said that CAN is planning to set up at least two pitches inside the indoor facility. The training facility will be 100 feet long and 30 feet wide.