However, Nepal might have to depend on seamers in the ICC World Cricket League Division-4 to be held in Italy after three weeks. Six seamers are in the squad for the first time in history. As seam bowling is considered favorable on astro turf, Nepal seem to have banked on seamers. [break]
Breaking the regular tradition of keeping four seamers in the Nepali squad, two seamers -- Manjit Shrestha and Pradip Airee -- have been added for Division-4. Both of them are all-rounders. Shrestha is a bowling all-rounder and Aire a batting all-rounder.
They secured their places in the national team following impressive performances in the domestic cricket. Shrestha has played from the national team in one-dayers only once in 2002 in Singapore against Qatar.
National coach Roy Luke Dias opines that job in the police force helped Shrestha make an easy comeback in the national team. Shrestha concurs.
Shrestha also holds the record of making a comeback in the national squad after the longest hiatus. ACC three-dayer in Hong Kong was the last match Shrestha played from the national squad. He has been called in the national squad after four years.
Earlier, Uttam Karmacharya, the first captain of Nepal in international tournaments, had made a comeback in the team after four years.
Karmacharya who had captained the national team in the First ACC Trophy in Malaysia in 1996, made a comeback in 2000 for the third edition of the tournament in the UAE. Karmacharya, who was then 38, remained as a reserve player and departed without playing any match.
Shrestha had put up a brilliant performance in the Pepsi National T20 and One-day National Tournament held last month. To steer Biratnagar to National T20 victory, he had claimed 11 wickets at an average of 12.82. In the One-Day tournament, he had struck 108 runs playing four matches with an average of 36 to guide the team to the final.
Until 2004 during the ICC U-19 World Cup, Shrestha was considered as the future star of the Nepali team. In the U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, Shrestha claimed 14 wickets to register his name as the sixth highest wicket taker. In Nepal´s thrilling one-wicket victory over South Africa, he had hauled four wickets with four maiden overs in his ten-over spell conceding 15 runs.
But after the age group cricket, Shrestha could not get much space in the national squad. Despite being called in the closed camp several times, he was rejected from the final list.
Airee has been included in the national team for the first time. Airee put up a brilliant performance in the 11th South Asian Games cricket. He had scored unbeaten 52 runs against Pakistan in the clash for bronze.
In the National T20, Aire had scored 102 runs at an average of 25.50 runs per match. In the National One-day, he blasted 154 runs playing three matches at an average of 77 to steer Baitadi to the semifinals for the first time in senior cricket.
He is also known for his attacking batting which is considered favorable for playing big shots in the small grounds of Italy. He might be a first choice player in place of Dipendra Chaudhary.
To find a place in the national squad as the fourth seamer is not an easy task. Kalam Ali, Abhaya Rana, Dhirendra Chand had an early exit from the team. Left arm bowler Amrit Bhattarai was cornered as the 12th player during most of the matches due to the presence of seniors Binod Das, Paras Khadka and Mehboob Alam.
Nepal have played 32 One-Day matches after Bhattarai made his debut in the national team in 2008, but he got chance to play only in seven matches. Amrit played only two matches out of the eight played in Division-5.
Shrestha and Airee are aware that they might not be first choice players. “Das, Alam and Khadka are good all-rounders. Thus, it has been difficult to get a place for the fourth seamer,” Dias said. Shrestha and Airee would be waiting for the slim chance to find a place in the squad.
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