Nepali team, led by Coach Pubudu Dassanayake and Captain Paras Khadka, will play six T20 matches and two 50-over matches in Mumbai during the tour. The tam will reach Bhairahawa by road and take train to reach Mumbai on February 2.

Nepali team will take on Cricket Club of India (CCI) in a T20 match on February 4 and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust on February 5. Nepali team will lock horns with Nerul Gymkhana in a 50-over match on February 6 and Khadka’s boys will face DY Patil Club in a T20 match on February 7.

Islam Gymkhana will host Nepali team next morning in a 50-over match. On February 9 and 10, Nepal will get Police Gym Club and Dilip Vensarkar Cricket Academy respectively in T20 matches.

February 11 will be a rest day for the team while Nepali team will take on Thana District team in a T20 match on February 12 before returning to Kathmandu.

“I’m in touch with some Scottish and English players training in Pune, India. I’m expecting a T20 match against a combined team of those players on February 3. However, it is yet to be finalized,” said Coach Dassanayake.

Significance of the tour

TB Shah, the First Vice President of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), said that the Mumbai-tour is the first step taken by the association in the direction of giving match exposure to the players of national team.

“This is the first step taken by CAN to provide practice matches to our players on different ground, weather and crowd conditions as well as against better opponents,” said Shah.

For national team coach Dassanayake, the Mumbai-tour is an opportunity to find proper mixture of the national team.

“I’m not looking for big results in this tour. However, it could be a chance to build winning momentum and to identify our top five batsmen and top five bowlers,” said Dassanayake.

“Everybody in the team will get proper chance in the tour and I’ll try to find proper mixture of the team before the ICC World T20 Qualifiers,” he added.

Nepali skipper Khadka expects the tour to be a tough one. “I’m expecting tough opponents in the tour, which will expose our weaknesses,” said Khadka.

“After the tour we’ll have time to correct our weaknesses,” he added.

What is training plan after the tour?

According to Coach Dassanayake, he will start a closed camp training and fast bowling camp on parallel from February 16.

“We’ll spot our weaknesses during the tour and we’ll try to focus on our weaker areas in the closed camp training that will undergo for three weeks,” said Dassanayake.

“We are expecting ACC Development-Officer Rumesh Ratnayake to be here in Kathmandu by February 16 and the fast bowling camp will undergo side by side,” he added.

Dassanayake is also expecting at least two warm-up matches in the UAE. “We want to reach Dubai at least 3-4 days earlier of the tournament and have few warm-up matches,” he said.

According to skipper Paras Khadka, all the players will undergo fitness test before flying to Dubai.

What happened in the last 10 days?

The CAN announced 18-member squad for the Mumbai-tour on January 24 and it is the preliminary squad for the ICC World T20 Qualifiers.

After a round of fitness test and five practice matches, CAN has selected 18-member squad.

In the five practice matches, Pradeep Airee was on the top among the batsmen. Airee scored 138 runs in five matches facing altogether 130 balls. He remained unbeaten twice and scored with an average of 46.

Paresh Lohani was the second on the highest scorers’ list. He scored 134 runs in five matches facing altogether 152 balls with an average of 26.8.

Skipper Khadka scored 80 runs playing in four innings of the five practice matches. He is on the third position among the highest run getters but his average is 20 and his highest score is 25.

Among the bowlers, Basant Regmi remained on the top. He took eight wickets bowling 19.2 overs with the economy of 3.72. Binod Das took seven wickets bowling 14 overs with the economy of 5.92.

Rahul Vishwakarma claimed six wickets in the five practice matches. He bowled 14 overs during the practice matches with the economy of 6.35.

However, Das is not included in the team touring to Mumbai.

Team Combination

The team touring Mumbai includes Paresh Lohani but excludes Binod Das. This is the first time in almost 13 years that Das was not considered for a team he is qualified to play for while Lohani had pulled out his name from the team for the Pepsi World Cricket League Division 5 held in Kathmandu in February 2010 citing personal reasons. Lohani hadn’t featured in the national team ever since.

“We’ve explained Binod (Das) about his exclusion. Amrit (Bhattarai) is our opening bowler and Krishna Karki is also well-shaped bowler against middle order. As we picked Amrit and Krishna in the team, we looked for an aggressive and young fast bowler and Avinash Karn fit there,” said Dassanayake.

“Binod (Das) is still a good option for us for 50-over format,” he added.

The other players in the 18-member squad are Gyanendra Malla, Prithu Baskota, Subash Khakurel, Basanta Regmi, Binod Bhandari, Sharad Vesawkar, Sanjam Regmi, Pradeep Airee, Shakti Gauchan, Rahul Vishwakarma, Anil Mandal, Mehboob Alam and Chandra Saud.

(Ed: The write-up appeared in Republica national daily, on 31st January, 2012)

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Nepal U-19 were in Bangladesh for three practice matches ahead of their participation in the ACC U-19 Elite Cup scheduled to be held in Thailand from Tuesday.

Bangladesh U-19 have put on a 151-run target for Nepal at the Sylhet Divisional Stadium on Saturday and restricted Nepal at 82/8 in the limited 20 overs.

Opener Subash Khakurel was run out in the first over of the innings while No 3 Pradeep Airee could not open his account. Faizal Khan struck a boundary and a six but was unlucky to be run out for 12 runs.

Sagar Pun, who showed some skill in Bangladesh, scored 18 runs to be the highest scorer of the innings. Naresh Budhayer and Captain Prithu Baskota returned pavilion scoring four runs each. Bowling all-rounder Rahul Kumar BK struck a six and added 17 runs off 30 balls. Shiva Kumar Tandukar hit two boundaries for 14 runs.

Krishna Karki and Bhuwan Karki remained unbeaten without scoring any run. Nasum Ahmed and Jobber Hussein claimed two wickets each. Hussein, who claimed altogether 10 wickets in the two One-Day and a T20 matches, was adjudged man of the series.

Earlier, Bangladesh elected to bat and scored 150/5 in 20 overs. Bhuwan Karki and Vice-captain Rahul Kumar BK took two wickets each for Nepal while skipper Baskota claimed a wicket.

Nepal U-19 were not seen up to the mark in fielding. They were sloppy in ground fielding meanwhile wicketkeeper Khakurel´s missed three catching opportunity.

Nepali coach Jagat Tamata said the three matches against tough opponent Bangladesh was an important bonus for the team for the ACC tournament.

“We have learned a lot from here. We got an opportunity to face a tough spinner and came to know that we have to improve a lot in batting,” said Tamata. “If we can improve in the concerned area, we still can achieve our target in Thailand and that is to lift the trophy,” added Tamata.

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Avinash Karn takes 4/53 for Nepal.

Bangladesh scored 211/9 in 50 overs and bowled out Nepal for only 66 runs in 28.5 overs. They had won the first match by 10 wickets bowling out Nepal for 70 runs.

Chasing 212 for victory, Nepal lost last seven wickets for merely seven runs. Faizal Khan was run-out at 4 early on. Captain Prithu Baskota was our for a run,

Subash Khakurel, after a lifeline on a run, went on to make 23 runs off 52 balls with four boundaries but was out playing Naim Islam meekly.

Jubair Hussein then led the damage taking four wickets. He bowled Sagar Pun to begin the wreckage which saw Rahul Biswokarma, Krishna Karki and Avinash Karn failing to open account in second straight match.

Pradeep Airee just hit a boundary before becoming the fifth victim of man of the match Hussein.

Naresh Budayer scored 15 off 54 balls while Bhuwan Karki was out as the last man on a run.

Earlier, Avinash’s brilliant bowling put brakes on Bangladeshi batsmen. He grabbed four wickets including three of top order. Opening with a wide, Avinash claimed wickets in next two balls to put hosts in pressure.

“I could have bowled well but I bowled a few loose deliveries and gave away runs,” the left-arm pacer said. He gave away 53 runs in 10 overs while his partner Krishna Karki only gave 19 runs in 9 overs for a wicket.

From 42/3, M Hossain and T Tareq revived the innings with 94 run partnership in 20 overs. Hossain scored 47 while Tareq made 55 off 60 balls. Shariar Suman scored 31 as Bangladesh passed 200-mark.

For Nepal, apart from Avinash, Rahul and Bhuwan each took two wickets.

Final match to be T20

The final practice match between Nepal and Bangladesh on January 29 will be a Twenty20 match on request of the visiting team’s request.

Since Nepal has to move back to Dhaka, seven-hour drive, to catch January 30 morning flight, Nepali team manager Arun Satyal asked the hosts to reduce the match. Nepal will leave for Dhaka directly after the match.

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Captains before the match.

Nepal U-19 won the toss and elected to bat on the Sylhet Divisional Stadium. Bangladesh bundled out Nepal for 70 runs in 33.2 overs and crossed the target in 11 overs with 74 runs on the board.

Faizlur Rahman (Faizal Khan) and Subash Khakurel put up 19 runs within four overs and gave a good start to the team. Nepal were 55/3 in the completion of 21 overs but Naresh Budhayer, Pradeep Airee and Rahul BK, who were expected to play blistering innings, got out cheaply as Nepal added just 15 runs for the loss of the last seven wickets.

Airee, Vice-captain BK, Krishna Karki and Avinash Karn were out for ducks during the proceeding. Airee was caught at the point in an attempt to hit a ball out side the off stump while BK, Karki and Karna were caught at the slip.

After losing eight wickets within the 30 overs mark, Nepal adopted batting power play in an expectation to resurrect the innings but lost the wicket off Sagar Pun in the very first ball of the power play. Last hope for Nepali side Pun was bowled out as ball took the inside edge of the bat. He scored 19 runs, which was the highest contribution in the team. Pun played 50 balls and struck only one boundary.

Nepali innings came to an end as Bhuwan Karki got LBW out for two runs.

Earlier, opener Khan contributed 16 runs while Khakurel struck 13 runs. Abdur Rashid took three wickets while man of the match Nyim Islam bowled skipper Prithu Baskota for three runs to start Nepal´s demolition. Islam bowled eight overs and gave away seven runs keeping three maiden overs and claimed other two wickets of Airee and BK. Leg-spinner Jobber Hussein also took three wickets.

In the run chase, Saddam Hussein (unbeaten 25 runs) and Jahed Jabbed (unbeaten 44 runs) sealed the victory. Jabbed played 27 balls and struck seven boundaries and two sixes.

Nepali coach Jagat Tamata said that the match turned to be one-sided as his chief batsmen failed one after another. Tamata´s counterpart Jafarul Ishan said that Nepali players were found exhausted since they reached Sylhet just a day before the match.

As the match did not last even for 50 overs, Nepal U-19 and Bangladesh U-19 played an unofficial Twenty20 match upon the request of Nepali side. In the T20 match, Bangladesh put up 141/6. In rpely, Nepal scored 117 runs in the allotted 20 overs losing eight wickets.

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The visiting team was scheduled to play two matches on April 21 and one on April 24 at the TU Cricket Ground against Nepal’s women team.

Earlier, the Lankan team was said to led by Berney Fernando of Lanka Women’s Sports Club and her deputy be Janakanthi Mala, former Sri Lanka all-rounder.

CAN Region No 3 Kathmandu was to field the team with available international players. Neera Rajopadhyay was named captain of the team that was to include Sarita Magar, Binu Budamagar, Sita Ranamagar and Gita Chudal among others.

“The friendship series will encourage women’s cricket,” CAN president Binaya Raj Pandey had said.

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LBSCC scored 97/9 in 20 overs and Nepal completed the victory with three balls and two wickets remaining.

For LBSCC, Sandeep Kaushik scored 39 off 38 balls while Saqib Alam scored 32 off 37 balls.

Shakti Gauchan and off-spinner Sanjam Regmi took two wickets each while Binod Das, Amrit Bhattarai and captain Paras Khadka grabbed a wicket each.

Gyanendra Malla topscored for Nepal with 34 off 44 balls while Sharad Vesawakar (20 off 30) and Dipendra Chaudhary (18 off 18) contributed for the victory.

Saqib took three wickets while Abhisekh Thakur took two wickets. Sandeep also got a wicket.

The LBSCC team consisted of Ranji Trophy players, according to team manager Naresh Shrestha.

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On Nov 15 Sunday, Nepal played two Twenty20 matches against DDCA XI and lost both but not without producing some good performances. Nepal lost the first match by 26 runs and second match by seven wickets.

Nepal won the toss of the first match and elected to field first. DDCA XI reached 164/5 in 20 overs. Ankur Jhulka scored 54 off 44 balls while Aditya Jain got 36 off 31, Joginder Singh 29 off 18 and Ranji player Yogesh Nagar got 18 off 24.

For Nepal, newly appointed captain Paras Khadka led from front taking two wickets for 23 runs while Binod Das and Basant Regmi each grabbed a wicket.

In reply, Gyanendra Malla scored a half-century to take Nepal to 138/4 in 20 overs. Apart from Gyanendra’s 51 off 42 balls, Paras remained unbeaten on 37 off 25 while Dipendra Chaudhary got 26 off 28 balls.

Paresh Lohani (1) and Mehboob Alam (12) went cheaply. For DDCA XI, Nagar, Darshan Kandiaya and Pakash Sikhra each took a wicket.

“The DDCA XI team was a strong team and we were praised for our good performance,” former captain Binod told Cricket Nepal in an email. The DDCA XI team consisted regular players of Delhi team.

However there were not much accolades for the second match as Nepal was restricted for 82/9 in 20 overs after electing to bat first. Apart from Paresh (26 runs of 50 balls) and Mehboob (17 off 18), not batsmen scored runs.

DDCA XI needed just 12.3 overs to win the match with Sawari Khan (41 runs off 35 deliveries) and Puneet Mehra (22 off 18) scoring good for the team.

Binod and Basant took a wicket each.

Nepal will play two more practice matches with the teams of DDCA before leaving to UAE for the event on November 20.

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Mehboob Alam emerged hero in the victory with an unbeaten knock of 70 runs as Nepal chased the Sri Lankan’s 128/8 in 17.4 overs.

Mehboob, who was later adjudged man of the match and received IRs 5,000, hit six fours and two sixes in his innings lasting 49 balls. He and Sharad Vesawkar ensured Nepal’s thumping victory after Paresh Lohani (4) was out early. Sharad scored 51 not out in 48 balls with three fours and a six.

Earlier, Sebastianite won the toss and elected to bat first. Riding on Chamath Perera’s 41 off 29 balls made with five fours and a six and Shanuka Pregith’s 24 off 22 deliveries, they scored 128/8 in allotted 20 overs.

Basant Regmi picked two wickets but went for 27 runs in his three overs. Captain Binod Das, Mehboob and Shakti Gauchan each took a wicket with Binod being the most economical giving away 14 runs in three overs.

Nepal fielded good effecting three run out – two of which were Raj Kumar Pradhan’s direct hit. “We played better than expected, but we need to improve on running between the wickets,” Nepal’s manager and first international captain Uttam Karmacharya said. “It’s an honor for us to participate in such a prestigious event.”

Nepal will meet Indian Airlines on Friday. VVS Laxman, Vijay Dhaiya, Gagandeep Singh and Ravneet Rikky are expected to play for the most prolific team of the event. “We will try to improve our performance in all three departments, because if we hope to beat Indian Airlines we need to take our game to next level,” Binod said.

The winner of the group consisting of three teams will qualify for the final while the second teams play the plate final. The other group consists of Cricket Association of Bengal, Air India and ONGC.

The event has some marquee names like Amit Mishra, Amit Bhandari, Gagan Khoda and Sarandeep Singh (ONGC); VVS Laxman, Vijay Dahiya, Gagandeep Singh and Ravneet Ricky (Indian Airlines); Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Naman Ojha, Neeraj Patel and Siddharth Dwivedi (Air India) and Laxmi Ratan Shukla (Cricket Association of Bengal).

CAN said the participation in the event would help in preparation for the World Cup Qualifying Series Division V. The tournament, with a prize money of IRs 225,000 will have a winner’s check of IRs 100,000 and concludes on Feb 10.

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The Indian team arrived on Friday. There are two changes in the Indian team annouced earlier. Baroda decided to pull out its two key players – Irfan Pathan and Rakesh Solanki – for the Ranji Trophy final clash with Mumbai. Instead of Pathan and Solanki, seamer VRV Singh and Anoop Pai are included in the team.

The event is being jointly organised by Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) and Percept D’mark of India. The sponsor of the event is Shahara India and co-sponsors are Wai Wai and Rio of Chaudhary Group, Hero Honda, Indian Airlines and Hyatt Regency. The Kathmandu Post is the media partnet while Nepal Television will broadcast all the matches live.

Ambati Thirupati Rayudu of Hyderabad is leading the Indian team. Rayudu is already knocking for a place in senior team after his successful U-19 tour to England and India A tour to West Indies. The 17-year old Rayudu will be a player to watch during the tournament.

Indian international Nikhil Chopra is accopanying the team whose coach is Tapash Chatterji and manager is Maninder Singh Jaggi.

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Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) included four new faces in the team, which otherwise has the players of the team that participated in Youth World Cup in New Zealand last year. Four new players are Sarad Veshwakar, Munik Shrestha, Irfan Siddique and Dipesh Khatri. All of them had already represented Nepal in various age-group.

Veshwakar was the pick of U-15 team during U-15 Asia Cup in UAE. He scored 274 runs in 8 matches with an average of 45.66 that included a fifty and a hundred. Shrestha, who is also the first-ever Nepali player to score a century in international arena, had represented Nepal in ICC Trophy in Canada. Shrestha scored unbeaten 113 runs against Singapore in ACC U-17 Asia Cup in Bangladesh.

Siddique and Khatri also took part in ACC U-17 Asia Cup in Bangladesh. Khatri scored 78 runs against Bangladesh as his best while Siddique picked up 4 wickets against Singapore during the tournament. Gauchan led the team during that tournament.

Former U-19 captain Binod Das, Vice-captain Bardan Chalise and off-spinner Sanjam Regmi could not be included as they have crossed the age-bar.

Skipper Gauchan is considered as one of the most talented players Nepal had ever has. Gauchan had represented Nepal U-17, U-19 and senior team. In U-17 level, he has scored 78 runs in four matches including a half-century and taken 3 wickets. In U-19, Gauchan has scored 287 runs from 13 matches with an average of 28.5 including a century and a half-century and has claimed 12 wickets. But his best is for the senior team, for which he has scored 287 runs in 9 matches at an average of 35.78 with two half-centuries and has also taken 9 wickets at an average of over 12. His economy rate is astonishing – 1.97 runs per over.

Other members of the team are – Kaniska Chaugain, Manoj Katuwal, Lakpa Lama, Manjeet Shrestha, Yashwant Subedi, Pramod Basnet, Basudev Thapa, Basant Regmi, Prem Chaudhary and Rohit Sharma.

India U-19 will play first match on April 26, second on 27 and last on 30 before their departure.

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