Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi and Kushal Bhurtel lost their places as the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) on Tuesday called on leg spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, batsmen Himanshu Dutta and Ishan Pandey for the ICC U-19 World Cup slated for January 22 to February 14 in Bangladesh.

Raju Rijal has been retained as the skipper of the 15-member squad that consists of 12 players who played in the ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers held in Malaysia from October 15-22. Other members in the team include Aarif Sheikh, Sandeep Sunar, Sunil Dhamala, Dipendra Airee, Saurav Khanal, Prem Tamang, Sushil Kandel, Dipesh Shrestha, Rajbir Singh, Yogendra Karki and Shankar Rana.

Bhurtel and Rajbanshi were the part of the Qualifiers’ team, while there was also no place for Irshad Ahmed who recently broke into the senior national team for the ICC World Cricket League Championship matches against Papua New Guinea in Abu Dhabi. Along with the trio, Nandan Yadav has also been kept in reserve.

Coach Jagat Tamatta said the final squad is what he was looking for considering the conditions in the sub-continent. “The squad is very much balanced because there is an opening lineup that has been in-form, a middle order that can handle pressure and lower order able to slog the ball during the closing stages of the game,” said Tamatta. “We are going on with five spinners in the side because Bangladeshi pitches do have turn. Sandeep, Sushil, Sandeep, Sunil, and Prem are capable of turning the ball and the latter two, being an allrounder, is surplus for us. We will have plenty of spin options in the team,” said Tamatta.

“Dipesh will play the role of the only fast bowler because Aarif, Yogendra, Dipendra and Saurav can come handy with their medium pace bowling,” added the coach. Nepal are lined up against Test playing heavyweights India, Australia and New Zealand in Group ‘D’ of the World Cup.

Dhamala is primed to open the innings with Sunar but failure of any two batsmen can open up a chance for left-hander Ishan Pandey. Singh, skipper Rijal and Sheikh will look after the middle order with Airee, Khanal and Tamang taking care of the lower middle order. Tamatta said Dutta will play the role of a part-time wicketkeeper batsman.

Nepal line up warm-up games in India

KATHMANDU: Nepal have lined up five warm-up games in their preparation tour of India ahead of the ICC Under-19 World Cup.

Nepal, who travel to New Delhi on December 30, will leave for Dharamshala the next day and play three practice matches against the local clubs apart from undergoing training sessions during their nine-day stay in the city. The Nepali team will then return to New Delhi on January 10 to play two more matches.