The tournament is scheduled to begin from February 1, but the matches will be held from February 3 to February 10.[break]
Nepal had won the last two editions of the championship under the captaincy of Nery Thapa. In the first edition held in Thailand in 2008, Nepal won the title defeating Malaysia and in the second edition held in Singapore, Nepal beat Bhutan to defend its title.
The current Nepali team led by Rubina Chhetri consists of four old faces while the remaining are new players in the squad. Sonu Khadka -- who had played in the earlier two editions of the tournament -- as well as Shraddha Aryal, Arati Bidari and Indu Barma are the old faces in the squad.
Vice-captain Kabita Gautam, Mamata Kumari Chaudhary, Anuradha Chaudhary, Dropati Kunwar, Pratiksha Basyal, Sangeeta Gauchan, Santoshi Kumari Chaudhary, Saraswati Kumari Chaudhary and Shilu Rijal are the new faces in the team.
Aakshya Gurung, Samana Pun, Saraswati Gurung Magar and Manisha Chaulagain were not included in the squad.
Navin Kumar Singh, who guided Region No 7 Janakpur to the National T20 Cricket Tournament title, is the coach while Keshav Ghimire is the manager of the team. Jayanti Devi Bhatta is the assistant manager.
Minister for Youth and Sports Kamala Rokka and President of Cricket Association of Nepal Tanka Aangbuhang bade farewell to the players. Minister Rokka urged the players to win the championship and complete a title hat-trick in the tournament.
Coach Singh said Nepal had won the first two editions of the championship so the current squad is under pressure to win the championship. “The team is in good shape as they have trained twice a day and also played practice matches against the senior team”, Singh said, adding, “We have an all-round team and they have the potential to play the allocated 25 overs. The team is physically fit and has a long batting order and good opening bowlers.”
When asked about the key batters and bowlers of the team, coach Singh named Anuradha Chaudhary, Rubina Chhetri, Mamata Chaudhary, Shilu Rijal, Indu Berma as good batters and Barma, Sonu Khadka, Chhetri and Saraswati Chaudhary as the key bowlers.
Captain Chhetri said she is confident of defending the title as the current squad is the best squad in the U-19 level and is full of all-rounders. “The biggest strength of the current squad is its batting line-up as players at the bottom can also bat,” said Chhetri, adding, “We had a four-week-long training which has built the players´ confidence.”
Nepal is placed in Group A along with China, the UAE, Malaysia and Thailand. Nepal had earlier defeated China by 66 runs and Thailand by 83 runs in the first edition of the tournament. Likewise, Nepal had registered twin wins against Malaysia in the first edition. Nepal had defeated Malaysia by seven wickets in the league round as well as in the final. In the second edition, Nepal had defeated the UAE by 81 runs.
Nepal will start its campaign against China on February 3.
Related story
Desperate search for missing girls as nearly 80 dead in Texas f...
