The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has announced its squad for the upcoming tri-series between the Netherlands and Malaysia.
The squad will be led by Gyanendra Malla who will be captaining the T20I sides for the eighth time as the team enters the ground to take on the Netherlands on Saturday. Dipendra Singh Airee will be vice-captaining the team.
Young cricketers Shahab Alam, Kushal Bhurtel, and Kamal Singh Airee have been given their maiden squad berth while the much expected Pawan Sarraf along with Sundeep Jora have been dropped. The Sheikh brothers, Aarif and Aasif, both have been featured in the squad.
Nepal has a wide range of top-order batting options with Gyanendra Malla, Aasif Sheikh, Paras Khadka, Kushal Malla, and Kushal Bhurtel. Kushal Malla is a left-hander while all others are right-handers. It will be interesting to see Kushal Bhurtel and Kushal Malla’s batting positions depending upon their needs during the match. Nepal’s spin attack, as expected, will be led by Right arm leggie Sandeep Lamichhane while having options for left-arm orthodox bowling in Sushan Bhari and Shahab Alam.
Karan KC and Sompal Kami will play the role of the seaming all-rounders while the team has Abinash Bohara and Kamal Singh Airee in other seam options. All the seamers are right-handers and have no option with the left arm seaming option, which was expected following Nepal’s domestic tournaments and the 20-men squad during the closed camp. Paras Khadka will lead the Nepalese batting at the top-order and will provide an option as a right-arm bowler. He has not been bowling much recently. Binod Bhandari will be standing behind the stumps with the gloves. Aasif Sheikh will be the second-choice wicketkeeper.
All in all, Nepal has a good squad and is very capable of producing good results at the TU ground infront of the home crowd. The other teams in the Tri-series Malaysia and the Netherlands have already arrived in Kathmandu and tournament is set to be broadcasted across 141 nations around the globe.
Full Squad: Gyanendra Malla (c), Dipendra Singh Airee(vc), Paras Khadka, Binod Bhandari, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Sandeep Lamichhane, Abinash Bohara, Aarif Sheikh, Aasif Sheikh, Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Shahab Alam, Kamal Singh Airee and Sushan Bhari.
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