Nepal announce squads for tours of Singapore and Oman
Nepal men’s national squad for their upcoming T20I tournament tours of Singapore and Oman has been announced. Nepal will be playing eight T20I matches against six opponents on this tour. Head coach Umesh Patwal and skipper Paras Khadka announced the national cricket team for the upcoming tours of Singapore and Oman, without the experienced duo Sharad Vesawkar and Basant Regmi.
Nepal squad will be travelling first to Singapore, where they play the host’s and Zimbabwe in a double round-robin group stage format, after which, they will travel to Oman, where they play the host’s, Ireland, Netherlands and Hong Kong in a single round-robin group stage format.
Nepal name 15-man squad for the upcoming Twenty20 series to be held in Singapore and Oman yesterday. Youngster Ishan Pandey and Kushal Malla are the two new faces in the squad while Sharad Vesawkar and Basant Regmi are given rest.
Nepal cricket team will miss the service of Vice Captain Gyanendra Malla, as he had opted out of the two series before the camp. Dipendra Singh Airee has been awarded for the deputy role in Malla’s absence.
Nepal 15-Members Squad: Paras Khadka (Captain), Dipendra Singh Airee (Vice Captain), Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Binod Bhandari, Lalit Rajbanshi, Pawan Saraaf, Sundeep Jora, Sandeep Lamichhane, Avinash Bohora, Kushal Malla, Rohit Kumar Paudel, Susan Bhari, Aarif sheikh, Ishan Pandey
Nepal is scheduled to play tri-series against Singapore & Zimbabwe in Singapore from September 27- October 2 and they take part in Pentagular series against Netherlands, Hong Kong, Ireland and Oman in Oman from October 6.
Coach Patwal said the best team was selected for the tours with the upcoming 13th South Asian Games in mind. “We have selected the best of the best players and we have decided to give chance to the young players as the next target of the team is the SA Games,” said Patwal, who was seemingly not happy when asked about the axing of Vesawkar and Regmi.
Skipper Khadka said the team wanted to try out a couple of young players in the two tournaments. “There is a lot of competition and obviously some senior players missed out this time around. More than anything else, it’s about that day, that moment and that series. We are giving opportunity to the potential players for next year as we are in World Cup cycle,” said Khadka.
Regarding the exclusion of the senior players, Khadka said no one was permanent. “I will have to go one day and this is the bitter truth in sports. It’s not only about performance, it’s about team building and it’s about the combination of attitude, behaviour, performance and hard work,” said Khadka. “And the door is open for everyone.”
Nepal will open the tri-series campaign with a match against Zimbabwe on September 27 before facing hosts Singapore the following day. Nepal will then play against Zimbabwe and Singapore on October 1 and October 2 respectively in the second round matches. Nepal will then take part in the Oman Pentangular Series, which also features Hong Kong, Ireland and the Netherlands. Nepal will open the campaign with a match against Hong Kong on October 6 and play against the Netherlands on October 7. Nepal will face Ireland on October 9.
