The committee has also decided not to replace Binod Das as the captain of the team. As Nepal could only cross the semifinals in the two international tournaments played last year under his captaincy, the committee had hinted that it would replace the skipper. In the last year’s Division -5 tournament held in Jersey, Nepal was confined to the third place which shattered Nepal’s hope to play in the 2011 World Cup. Likewise, Nepal remained fourth in the ACC Trophy held in Malaysia where UAE had shattered Nepal’s dream to play Asia Cup.
Binod is leading Nepali side since the last four years. He had replaced Paresh Lohani in 2005 from the World cricket league division-2 selection tournament. Except the victory in ACC Premier League 3-days cricket tournament in 2006, Nepali national team has not put up any remarkable show under Binod’s captaincy.
If selection committee replaces Binod from his role, Vice-captain Parash Khadka is likely to take over the mantle. According to a CAN source, because of lack of more options the committee could not replace Binod while announcing the names of the 18-member team.
“Captain may be named later” the source told Republica. After the failure of national team in Malaysia, Binod had expressed his desire to quit the job but the issue was undecided as Nepal didn’t play any international tournament after Malaysia.
Coach Roy Dias has been saying that even if the captain has to be changed, the committee should once talk to Binod. Meanwhile, some of the CAN members are against replacing the captain before the World Cricket league. Some other CAN members have been arguing that changing captaincy is totally the job of selection committee and coach.
According to the source, star all-rounder Meheboob Alam is the last player in the 18-member squad for the tournament being held from November 20 to 30 in UAE. Source claims that Meheboob had had fitness problem in the close camp.
As the source claims, five players who have been removed from the 18-member list are Puspa Thapa (Biratnagar), Anil Mandal (Birgunj), Pramod Basnet (Kathmandu), Abhimanyu Singh (Nepalgunj) and Prem Budal (Baitadi). Ajay Rajbanshi (Biratnagar), Naresh Budhaair (Baitadi) and Binod Bhandari (Baitadi) have been selected for the first time in 18-member list.
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