August 16, Kathmandu.
The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has bid farewell to the Nepali national cricket team that will play the ACC Men’s Premier Cup to be held in Malaysia.
The Nepali team, captained by Sandeep Lamichhane, will depart for India on Friday. The team will prepare in India for 10 days. After the preparations in India, the Nepali team is scheduled to depart for Malaysia directly from India.
At the farewell program, Captain Sandeep Lamichhane stated that the team will go to Malaysia with the goal of winning the ACC Premier Cup. He said that the 10-day preparation in India would be important to identify and improve the weaknesses seen in recent matches.
‘We will go to Malaysia with motivation. But before that, it was a good time to reflect on our journey. After returning from the Netherlands, a camp has been organized in Bangalore to identify where we fell short, where mistakes were made, and to work on them,’ he said.
He stated that the training in India would provide an opportunity to practice in conditions similar to Malaysia. ‘Certainly, we will go there for these 10 days, and the conditions will be similar to Malaysia. Our target is to improve our mistakes there and win the upcoming tournament, the ACC Premier Cup. We will make every effort to bring the trophy home,’ he said.
Similarly, CAN Secretary and former national cricketer Paras Khadka said that although various questions have arisen regarding the national team’s new squad and captaincy change, all players’ roles are equally important as cricket is a team sport.
He informed that Sandeep Lamichhane has been given the responsibility of leading the Nepali men’s ODI team and stated that the team’s players have been playing good cricket recently.
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‘There might be many questions among you regarding the recently announced squad of the Nepal cricket team. On behalf of the Cricket Association, we are first introducing or re-introducing Sandeep Lamichhane, who is going to lead our Men’s ODI format,’ said Khadka.
Khadka stated that Nepal must win the ACC Premier Cup and that all parties must work together for this. He mentioned that although the Nepali national team has achieved historical milestones in the last five-six years, it has not been able to perform as expected in some matches.
He reiterated that CAN is committed to encouraging and supporting players to make Nepali cricket stronger. He stated that Nepali cricket has reached its current state with the support of the National Sports Council, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Government of Nepal, sponsors, and other stakeholders.
Khadka expressed confidence that the Nepali team will perform well in the ACC Premier Cup, win the title, and qualify for the Asia Cup.
Earlier, CAN had announced a 14-member Nepali national cricket team under the captaincy of Lamichhane. The association selected leg-spinner Lamichhane as the captain of the Nepali men’s ODI team.
The announced 14-member squad includes Captain Sandeep Lamichhane, Aasif Sheikh, Arjun Kumal, Rohit Paudel, Dev Khanal, Dipendra Singh Airee, Bashir Ahmad, Ishan Pandey, Gulshan Jha, Sher Malla, Lalit Rajbanshi, Karan KC, Hemant Dhami, and Sandeep Jora.
For more: Cricket Team Farewell ACC Premier Cup
