Rubina Chhetri was retained as the skipper as a 15-member squad has been announced for the upcoming ACC Women’s Asia Cup slated for November 26 to December 4 in Thailand. 

Shobha Ale replaced Nirmala Shahi in the squad that had only one change from the side that played the recently concluded ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifying Series for Asia Region held in Hong Kong. Nepal had qualified for the tournament after finishing second in the Qualifying Series in October. 

Other members in the squad include Jyoti Pandey, Indu Barma, Karuna Bhandari, Kajol Shrestha, Nary Thapa, Neera Rajopadhyaya, Rashmi Sharma Chaulagain, Roshani Bohora, Sabnam Rai, Saraswati Chaudhary, Sangita Rai, Sarita Magar and Sita Rana Magar. 

The Asia Cup is contested between four Test-playing nations—India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh—along with Thailand and Nepal. Thailand were the winners of the Qualifying Series. Nepal kick off their campaign with the match against Pakistan on the opening day before playing Sri Lanka on November 28. 

They next meet Bangladesh on November 29 and lock horns with hosts Thailand on December 1. Their final league game pits them against India on December 2. The top two teams following the round robin league will qualify for the final. The matches between the Test playing teams are recognised as Twenty20 Internationals.

Nepali women are competing in the second tournament in the last one month having gone through a two-year hiatus in international stage. There last tournament the Nepali team played before the Qualifying Series was 2014 Asian Games women’s cricket in South Korea.