Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has announced the squad for the three-day match against Hong Kong scheduled to begin on Oct 13 at the TU Cricket Ground.
In the team, three of the players who toured Malaysia for the ACC Trophy 2006 have failed to find a spot. Left-arm spinner Raju Basnyat and wicket-keeper Manoj Vaishya have not even been named as the stand-by players in the team. Dhirendra Chand has been named stand-by after he reported back-problems.
Basnyat, who has played eight three-day matches taking 8 wickets and scoring 159 runs at an average of 22.71, has been surprisingly left-out. There were three wicket-keepers in the 20-member camp with Mahesh Chhettri and Manoj Katuwal being the other two. Both of the later have been named for the match.
Katuwal returns to the team after missing the ACC Trophy while off-spinner Sanjam Regmi, who was probably favored ahead of Basnyat, also makes a comeback.
The squad: Binod Das, Shakti Gauchan, Paresh Lohani, Paras Khadka, Raj Kumar Pradhan, Mehboob Alam, Sarad Vesawkar, Basant Regmi, Mahesh Chhetri, Sanjam Regmi, Gyanendra Malla, Manoj Katuwal, Amrit Bhattarai and Antim Thapa. The four stand-by players are Dhirendra Chand, Aakash Gupta, Vijay Thapa and Prem Chaudhary.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong too has named its squad. They are arriving in Kathmandu on Oct 12 afternoon. Hong Kong squad: Ravi Sujanani (captain), Najeeb Amar, Jamie Atkinson (wk), Afzaal Haider, Irfan Ahmed, Nadeem Ahmed, Graeme Jardine, Robert Bacon, Sajid Khan, Roy Lamsam, Imran Idrees, Ilyas Gul, Adam Gunthorpe and Mark Eames.
The record of Nepal vs Hong Kong in three-day matches is not too encouraging for Nepal. Last May, Nepal was forced a draw after rain disturbed the match. In 2004, Nepal was at the winning position for the first two days but lost by three wickets in the last day in a dramatic finish in Hong Kong.