Eyeing a maiden spot in the semi-finals, Nepali blind national cricket team on Tuesday left for Pakistan to participate in the fifth Blind Cricket World Cup scheduled for January 8-21.

Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are jointly hosting the tournament that also includes India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Australia. West Indies, England, South Africa and New Zealand are giving a miss to this edition.

Nepal captain Kirtan Shrestha Duwal said his side’s main target will be to make it to the semi-finals. The top four teams after the round robin league will advance into the last four. “Our target is to reach the semi-finals this time. We know that Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka are the best teams in the tournament,” said Duwal.

“But we feel that Australia and Bangladesh are just slightly above us in terms of strength. If every one of us up our games a little bit, we can make it to the last four. For the first time, our preparations have been very good for a World Cup and we are very positive to play well,” added Duwal.

Nepali team began their training four months earlier and lately they practiced at the Mulpani Cricket Ground. Cricket Association of Blind (CAB) Nepal President Pawan Ghimire said getting to train at a proper ground has instilled a lot of confidence in Nepali players. “Practicing at a proper cricket pitch in a proper cricket ground has made our player excited. We must say that we have had the best training and got good amount of assistance from national cricket team coach Jagat Tamatta as well. We are hopeful that we can come up with desired results,” said Ghimire.

Nepali team will begin their tournament campaign with the match against Bangladesh at the Lahore Gymkhana on January 8 and play India a day later at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. After playing hosts at the Jinnah Stadium on January 10, Nepal will leave for the UAE from Pakistan to play Australia at the MCC Ground in Ajman. Their league campaign will round up with the match against Sri Lanka at the same venue in Ajman. While the semi-finals will be played in Ajman, Gaddafi Stadium will host the final in Lahore.

The Nepali squad includes Sunil Subedi Chhetri, Bikram Bahadur Rana (vice-captain), Naresh Chaudhary, Durga Dutta Paudel and Bharat Chaulagain in B1 category. The B2 category players include Surya Prasad Bhattarai, Khimananda Gaire and Badri Chaulagain. Duwal, Padam Bahadur Badela, Ramesh Bahadur Baniya, Bharat Thapa and Sunil Thapa Magar are B3 category players.

Rijan Prajoo is the team coach. Nepal’s best performance in blind cricket history is their victory over South Africa and New Zealand in the 2017 Twenty20 World Cup for Blind in India. It will be Nepal’s third appearance in the global cricketing event of the visually impaired players. Nepal had also participated in the 2012 Twenty20 World Cup for Blind held in Bangalore.

The team is playing 40-over World Cup for the first time. The team was unable to participate in the 2014 40-over World Cup in South Africa due to budget constraints. They are also leaving for Pakistan by road due to same reason.