Despite holding a trial to hunt extraordinary players, the 18-member squad has only new face from the team that finished runner-up in the ACC U-19 Premier League held in Malaysia from August 28 to September 3.Bowler Sandip Lamichhane is the only new face in the squad, as per a press release issued by CAN on Friday.
Skipper Raju Rijal, Aarif Sheikh, Dipendra Airee, Saurav Khanal, Shankar Rana, Sandeep Sunar, Sunil Dhamala, Yogendra Karki, Dipesh Shrestha, Sushil Kandel, Prem Tamang, Rajbir Singh, Aashish Dhami and Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi are the regular 14 members who were in the Malaysia tour.
Similarly, Kushal Bhurtel, Kamal Airee and Himanshu Dutta were reserved players for the premier league.
Irshad Ahmed, who was a reserved player in the previous team, has been excluded from the squad.
U-19 team coach Jagat Tamata said that they were unable to find any extraordinary player despite having trials.
"We could not find new players with extraordinary talent, so we will depend upon the same squad having match exposure," said Tamata, who recently travelled to Malaysia with the youth team for the premier league.
As soon as the team returned from Malaysia, coach Tamata was looking for openers as he was quite disappointed by the top order batsmen in the premier league. Although four openers had travelled to Malaysia, their performance was inconsistent, according to Tamata.
Tamata is optimistic that his side will earn a spot for next year's U-19 World Cup to be held in Bangladesh.
Nepal, Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Uganda and the United States of America will vie in the qualifiers for the only place available for next year's World Cup.
"The team will perform better in the qualifiers as they are supposed to play at least three practice matches with the national team and might also travel to India," said Tamata.
U-19 team most likely to tour India
Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) is all set to send U-19 team to India to prepare for the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers.
Coach Jagat Tamata said that CAN has formally requested the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) to arrange the tour. However, BCCI is yet to confirm the tour.
"We have been expecting to visit Bangalore for the training because the condition of Bangalore and Malaysia are similar. If we get to play seven practice matches, that will be best for the team before the qualifiers," said Tamata.
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