Nepali Under-19 cricketers Dipendra Airee, Prem Tamang, Sushil Kandel and Saurav Khanal are set to train at the world reknowned academy the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, India.

The opportunity for the players came following the Asian Cricket Council’s decision to provide them the scholarships, informed the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) Chief Executive Officer Bhawana Ghimire on Wednesday.

Ghimire said the cricketers were selected on the basis of their recent performance in international arena. The four players were key members of the Nepali team which played ACC U-19 Premier and ICC U-19 World Cup Qualifiers in the past two months.

The Nepali team secured a ticket to the 2016 U-19 World Cup to be held in Bangladesh after defeating Ireland in the final of the qualifying tournament in Malaysia on October 22. Spinner Tamang had taken 11 wickets during the Qualifiers, while he also claimed six in the ACC U-19 Premier held in Malaysia on August 28-September 3. Nepal had finished second behind Afghanistan in the Premier.

Kandel had claimed 11 wickets during the ACC Premier, while also taking three in the World Cup Qualifiers. Likewise, Airee took three wickets each in those two events.

The cricketers are scheduled to leave for Chennai on November 25 and return home on December 16. The MRF academy basically trains fast bowlers from all over the world but Ghimire said the Nepali players will be provided with allround training in the MRF Pace Foundation.

The MRF Foundation was created by MRF Limited with the help of former Australian pace spearhead Dennis Lillee. Through this programme, young aspiring fast bowlers are trained in a facility. Fast bowlers who trained with the MRF Pace Foundation and went on to represent the India include Javagal Srinath, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Venkatesh Prasad, Rudra Pratap Singh and Zaheer Khan.

Chaminda Vaas, Heath Streak,and Australian fast bowlers Glenn McGrath, Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee have also trained at the Foundation.