Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has sent a list of 30-member preliminary squad for the upcoming ICC World Tweny20 that begins in Bangladesh from March 16 with the entire squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers retaining their place.
The preliminary squad sees the return of seamer Amrit Bhattarai, spinners Rahul Kumar BK and Sanjam Regmi. Amrit and Rahul were the part of the national team that qualified for the World Twenty20 through the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers in UAE in November but were left out from the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers recently held in New Zealand.
Sanjam has not been in the team after missing the ACC Emerging Teams Cup in August last year and his last appearance for the national side was in the ICC World Cricket League Division-III tournament in Bermuda in May, 2013.
Seamer Chandra Saud is another member included from the Division-III squad.While former skipper Binod Das and explosive all rounder Mehboob Alam were not considered, veteran leg spinner Raj Kumar Pradhan is a surprise call-up from Nepal.
Raj Kumar last played in an unofficial Journey To World Cup cricket tournament. U-19 players Aarif Sheikh, Bhuwan Karki, Amit Shrestha, Ram Naresh Giri, Yagya Man Kumal and Sushil Kandel have been considered for the preliminary squad along with Nijamuddin Ansari, Manjit Shrestha, Rajesh Pulami and Naresh Budhayer.
Nepal will play against Hong Kong in March 16 while they will play with Afghanistan on March 18. Nepal will play against hosts Bangladesh in their last match of the qualifiers on March 20.
Here are the list of preliminary squad of thirty players.
- Paras Khadka
- Gyanendra Malla
- Suvash Khakurel
- Pradeep Airee
- Binod Bhandari
- Sharad Veshwakar
- Prithu Baskota
- Sagar Pun
- Shakti Gauchan
- Basant Regmi
- Anil Mandal
- Avinas Karn
- Som Pal
- Jitendra Mukhiya
- Amrit Bhattrai
- Rahul BK
- Mahesh Chhetri
- Ram Naresh Giri
- Naresh Budhayer
- Bhuwan Karki
- Raj Kumar Pradhan
- Rajesh Pulami Magar
- Yagya Man Kumal
- Aarif Seikh
- Sushil Kandel
- Amrit Shrestha
- Manjit Shrestha
- Nijamuddhin Ansari
- Sanjam Regmi
- Chandra Saud
