Sports
National team quartet among emerging stars in Dhangadi Premier League
National cricket team quartet Rohit Kumar Paudel, Bhim Sharki, Sundeep Jora and Pawan Sarraf were among the 15 emerging cricketers who were named by Dhangadhi Cricket Academy (DCA) on Monday to train and play cricket in South Africa.Sports Bureau
National cricket team quartet Rohit Kumar Paudel, Bhim Sharki, Sundeep Jora and Pawan Sarraf were among the 15 emerging cricketers who were named by Dhangadhi Cricket Academy (DCA) on Monday to train and play cricket in South Africa.
Under the initiation from Dhangadhi Premier League (DPL) organisers DCA and Sports ED, former South African international Jonty Rhodes and his compatriot Ryan Maron have selected the cricketers who will train and play cricket in Cape Town. Rhodes was the goodwill ambassador of DPL, while Maron was the coach of CYC Attariya. Rhodes also mentored DPL champions Attariya.
The cricketers were selected as per their performance in the DPL and considering them as future prospects, as informed by Rhodes during a press conference on February 20, on the sidelines of DPL. The cricketers will leave for South Africa in October and play one-day matches and possibly two-day cricket with the local youth teams. The team is named as DPL Emerging Stars.
Paudel, Sharki, Jora and Sarraf were the part of the Nepali senior team that claimed their maiden One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International Series against the United Arab Emirates earlier this month. While Paudel featured in the ODI team and became world’s youngest half century scorer to beat the likes of Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar and Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi, Jora made debut in the third and deciding ODI.
Jora went on to become world’s youngest half century scorer in Twenty20 International history after he achieved the feat against the UAE in the first Twenty20 International which Nepal had lost. Sharki, nicknamed ‘Jonty’ for his fielding exploits is yet to make a debut in the senior side. He became an overnight sensation after taking a sensational full-stretch diving catch while playing for Rupandehi Challengers in the DPL against Biratnagar Kings.
Sarraf also featured in both the one-dayers and Twenty20 International Series and is touted as future prospect of the Nepali national team. Other members in the DPL Emerging Stars were Under-16 skipper Rit Gautam,
Kushal Malla, Trit Raj Das, Suwash Ayer, Sushil Khadka, Kamal Singh Airee, Rashid Khan, Aadil Ansari, Dipendra Rawat, Krishna Ayer and Khagendra Joshi.