Manjit Shrestha has made a comeback in the final 14-member national squad announced for the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division-4 to be held in Italy.
All-rounder Shrestha has been included in the national squad for the first time since 2005. He had participated in the ACC Three-day League Cricket in Hong Kong in 2005. Despite being named in the ACC Trophy in Malaysia in 2006, he was ruled out from the tour owing to injuries in his finger.
Shrestha paved way for re-entry in the national team following his brilliant performance in the Pepsi National T20 and One-day national tournament held last month. To steer Biratnagar to T20 victory he claimed 11 wickets with an average of 12.82. In one dayer he struck 108 runs playing four matches with an average of 36 to guide the team to final.
All-rounder Pradip Aire of Baitadi has also been selected in the national team for the first time. Aire who hammered an impressive half century against Pakistan in the 11th South Asian Games in Bangladesh has proved himself as an emerging talent.
In the national T20, Aire has scored 102 runs with an average of 25.50 runs per match. In one-dayer he blasted 154 runs playing three matches with an averge of 77 to steer Baitadi to semifinals for the first time in senior cricket.
Remaining 12 players in the squad are captain Paras Khadka, vice captain Gyanendra Malla, Shakti Gauchan, Sarad Veshawakar, Mahesh Chhetri, Anil Mandal, Amrit Bhattarai, Basanta Regmi, Binod Das, Sanjam Regmi, Rahul Kumar BK and Mehboob Alam are the members of the Division-5 triumphant squad held in Kathmandu on February.
Dipendra Chaudhary and Binod Bhandari are the only excluded members of Divison-5 winning squad and the finalist of ACC Trophy held in Kuwait. Chaudhary was not called for final closed camp of 18 players but Bhandari along with Naresh Budhaaire, Bhuwan Karki and Pushpa Thapa have been named reserved players in Italy.
Nepal will play against America, Italy, Argentina, Cammie Island and Tanzania from August 14-21 at Italy. Top two teams will be selected for Division-3 to be held in China in January 2011.