CAN announces Squad for the ACC U-16 Elite Cup

Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced a 14-member team for the ACC U-16 Elite Cup to be held in Malaysia from May 4 to 13. The CAN picked the final 14 out of 19 players in the closed camp training for the tournament.

Deependra Chand is the captain of the Nepali U-16 team, which includes Aadil Khan, Kali Charan Yadav, Shashi Bhusan Mishra, Nurdhwaj Sen, Jagadish Chand and Akash Bista. Likewise, Rabin Gupta, Aasif Sekh, Kushal Bhurtel, Rupesh Banstola, Mukunda Yadav, Alfaj Mansoori and Anup Neupane are other members of the team.

Nitesh Thakur, Lokesh Jha, Ajay Sahani and Heman Rai are considered as reserve players.

Manjur Alam Khan is the coach of the U-16 team. Despite playing at the home, Nepali U-16 cricket team led by Switchon Shah had to satisfy only as runner-up in the first edition of the ACC U-16 Elite Cup in 2010. Singapore had defeated Nepal in the final of the first edition.

The current U-16 team has been going through last phase of closed camp training under the guidance of coach Manjur Alam Khan..

“We got very short period to prepare for the tournament. However, I’m focusing the closed cup training on match scenario and match practices. Boys are improving in all departments,” said Khan.

Khan said that he is working on the area of fitness also. “I’m trying to make boys fit enough in the short training period. They have a pressure to be fit but it is only to a limit,” said Khan.

“We have a bunch of talented players in the team. If you ask me to name some of them, they would be Deependra Chand, Adil Khan, Shashi Bhusan Mishra as batsmen, Jagadish Chand and Kali Charan Yadave as medium pacers and Rupesh Banstola as spinner,” added Khan.

The U-16 team has been training 4-5 hours daily at the TU Cricket Ground under the closed camp training. “Our ultimate aim is to win the title but to reach there we’ll focus on a match at a time,” said Khan.