Nepal Under-19 coach Binod Das took early initiatives on Thursday to select a team for the high-profile 50-over cricket tournament organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Kolkata on September 9-20.

The BCCI has invited the Nepal U-19 for the first time to participate in the four-team tournament, which the Indian board is organising to fine tune their preparations for the U-19 Asia Cup. India will field two teams— National Cricket Academy and U-19 team— apart from U-19 Nepal and U-19 Afghanistan in the tournament.

Das plans the selection to be conducted on August 13-15 at the indoor facilities of Velocity Arena in Ratopul. As the International Cricket Council (ICC) is handling the affairs of Nepali cricket due to the suspension of Cricket Association of Nepal, it needs an approval from the world cricket governing body to compete in the tournament.

“If we wait for the approval from ICC, we might run out of time for preparation,” added Das. “So as the head coach of the U-19 team, I have decided to call players for open selection on my own. Das said he had to take the route in due to the absence of U-19 tournaments for a long time.

Das believed the tournament will also be a good platform for Nepal to prepare the team for U-19 Asia Cup scheduled for September 27 start in Bangladesh. “It is a great opportunity for us to play against the likes of India and Afghanistan prior to Asia Cup,” said Das who had guided the team to semi-finals of the 2017 U-19 Asia Cup in Malaysia. Nepal had stunned India by 19 runs in the group stage to enter semi-finals.

“We had requested India to offer us a chance to play in their (top level) age-group cricket last year which they dully accepted,” said Das. The selection will pick at least nine players for the first phase of training who will link up with 14 players from the U-16 squad. Three players from each of the seven provinces make up for a 44 cricketers to train for the first phase of the closed camp, informed Das.

The squad will be trimmed to 12, who will join seven players from the U-19 squad that last represented Nepal. From the 19, Das plans to finalised the 14-member squad for the Eden Gardens tournament. Das also revealed the U-19 players who also represent the senior team will not be considered for the tournament.