18 youngsters called for ACC U-19 Asia Cup with less than 20 days for tourney

Kathmandu, Nov. 10: In less than 20 days from now, Nepal will be playing Sri Lanka in Sharjah during the duo’s first group-stage match of the ACC Men’s U19 Asia Cup. And, the 18-member squad to represent Nepal was revealed on Saturday by the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN).

Nepal is in Group B with the teams of three Test nations – Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Group A is comprised of India, Pakistan, the UAE and Japan. 

While Nepal opens the tournament against Sri Lanka on November 29, they will compete with Bangladesh and Afghanistan on December 1 and 3 in Dubai and Sharjah respectively.

As per the fixtures, Nepal will be in the UAE soon, the furthest date being November 28. Thus, the team has less than three weeks to prepare for the face-off against the under-age teams of Test nations.

Meanwhile, the squad has been picked by head coach Shakti Gauchan and assistant coach Dhirendra Chand based on the performances by the players in the recently concluded Naresh Shrestha Memorial Men’s U-19 Tournament in Biratnagar.

Sudurpaschim, the team coached by Chand, defeated Lumbini, the team coached by Gauchan, to lift the trophy in the final on November 6. Three days later, the two coaches who reached the final have announced their squad which is filled with new faces.

Nevertheless, only three of the players who were in the Nepali squad that competed in the U19 T20 World Cup during the early months of 2024 have made it to the squad for the Asia Cup. They are Arjun Kumal, Uttam Rangu Thapa Magar and Hemant Dhami.

Kumal rose to fame with a knock of 90 runs against New Zealand in Nepal’s first match of the World Cup on January 21. Magar was the wicket-keeper in three of the five matches on the biggest stage; he was replaced by Bipin Rawal in the other two matches. However, Magar could only score 12 runs in three innings. On the other hand, Hemant Dhami ended his World Cup participation on the bench.

Hemant takes helm

Pacer Hemant Dhami was not the leading wicket-taker of the tournament. He ranked 11th based on wickets with 12 in 6 matches.

However, there is more to Dhami than what the statistics suggest. 

Dhami bowled his best figure of the tournament: 4/25 in the final. His bowling aided Sudurpaschim to defeat Lumbini to lift the inaugural Naresh Shrestha Memorial National Tournament. 

He was most likely to claim a fifer in the final as the opponent batsmen and even his team’s wicketkeeper and fielders behind were often beaten by Dhami’s pace. He was also applauded for the allocation of overs between his bowlers to build pressure on the opponent throughout the tournament. 

And now, Dhami will lead a new set of players for a more important tournament. However, how well the coaches and captain bring out the best of the new team in a small window to train is yet to be seen. 

Similarly, comparing the squad with the statistics of the Naresh Shrestha Memorial Tournament, only the first and ninth-positioned batsmen, Sonu Ansari and Cibrin Shrestha, have been left out of the squad. Ansari had scored 209 runs in 6 matches for Koshi and Shrestha scored 126 runs in 5 innings for Bagmati.