The 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 team will reach Bhairahawa by road and take train to reach Mumbai on February 2.
Nepal will play T20 matches with Cricket Club of India (CCI) on February 4 and with Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust on February 5. The Nepali team will then lock horns with Nerul Gymkhana in a 50-over match on February 6, followed by a T20 match against DY Patil Club on February 7.
Islam Gymkhana will host the Nepali team next morning in a 50-over match. On February 9 and 10, Nepal will play T20 matches with Police Gym Club and Dilip Vengasarkar Cricket Academy respectively. The Nepali team will rest for a day and 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 tour
TB Shah, the first vice-president of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), said 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 grounds, 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 a 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 a 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.
Post-tour plans
According to coach Dassanayake, he will conduct closed-camp training and fast bowling camp simultaneously from February 16.
"We´ll spot our weaknesses during the tour and will try to focus on our weaker areas in the closed-camp training that will run 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 be conducted simultaneously," 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 prior to the tournament and have a few warm-up matches," he said.
According to skipper Khadka, all the players will undergo fitness test before flying to Dubai.
What happened in the last 10 days?
CAN announced an 18-member squad for the Mumbai tour on January 24. The announced team is also the preliminary squad for the ICC World T20 Qualifiers.
CAN had selected the 18-member squad after conducting fitness test and five practice matches.
In the practice matches, Pradeep Airee emerged as the top run-getter scoring altogether 138 runs from 130 balls in five matches at an average of 46. He remained unbeaten twice.
Paresh Lohani was the second highest scorer with 134 runs in five matches. He faced altogether 152 balls and had an average of 26.8.
Skipper Khadka scored 80 runs playing in four innings of the five practice matches. He finished as the third highest run-getter, though his average was 20 and his highest score 25.
Among the bowlers, Basanta Regmi occupied the top spot. He took eight wickets bowling 19.2 overs with an economy of 3.72. Binod Das took seven wickets bowling 14 overs with an economy of 5.92. Rahul Vishwakarma claimed six wickets, bowling 14 overs with an economy of 6.35.
However, Das is not included in the team touring Mumbai.
Team combination
The team touring Mumbai includes Paresh Lohani, but does not feature Binod Das. This is the first time in almost 13 years that Das has not been 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 a well-shaped bowler against the 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 the 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.
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