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1. ACC Trophy Elite 2012, a mission for Nepali cricket: Preview
Pratap Dulal/October 1, Kathmandu – Nepali Cricket Team eying the shinning crown of ACC Trophy Elite 2012 after proving paramount ability at the ICC World Cricket League Division IV at Malaysia a month back. Crowning champion will maintain the winning habit, which is eventually imperative. Nepal is aiming to gain at least ODI status by 2015. If Nepal wishes this, they have to achieve every glory in this journey. This challenge is extensive contest as this is the fight between powerhouses of Non-test playing Asian nation.
(completed matches, most recent first)
Nepal: W W W W W
(completed matches, most recent first)
Nepal: L W W W W

Nepal is scheduled along with UAE, Hong Kong, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in-group B. Similarly, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Oman, Bhutan and Maldives will compete in Group A for top two spot, which will secure semi-final place of 10 days tournament that begins from October 3.
Nepali Cricket team is familiar with all these team in Group B as they have played against each other in various tournaments. In 50 overs cricket, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are mediocre team thus it will not be hard to beat them but the main threat remains against Hong Kong and UAE. Perhaps main issue stay behind is‘How will Nepal play in the opening match against host nation UAE?’ Nepal is yet to defeat UAE in 50 overs cricket. It is fair to say, if Nepal manages to win against UAE in the opener, it could seal the place in semi-final, which will probably ease their passage to final they had already reached on preceding edition and 2002.
Even without the title winning history in ACC Trophy, Nepal has a statistics to set right, though Nepal has once beaten Afghan in same tournament in 2004 and have upper hand against Hong Kong in 50 overs cricket. Nepal defeated UAE in three-day match once before hence, Nepal has a good chance to defeat UAE. Afghanistan and UAE is major problem for Nepal as these teams regularly playing high exposure tournaments World Cricket League, Intercontinental Cup and World Cup qualifiers. Despite all this, Nepal have the potential to turn the tables from any opposition, who ever comes on the way to achieve victory with current form in all three departments; bowling, fielding and batting.
In the history of ACC Trophy, there have been four different winners. In 1996 and 1998 Bangladesh won it. After Bangladesh got the Test status, UAE then held the vacant post from 2000 to 2006, claimed the title and in 2008 it went to Hong Kong’s hand. Likewise, Afghanistan claimed the trophy in 2010 defeating Nepal in the final.
However, reaching final is not small achievement at the tournament participated by highly rated teams like Hong Kong, UAE, Oman and Afghanistan. All these teams were well ahead of Nepal in ICC’s division. Afghanistan and UAE gaining experience in Division 1 plays regular international cricket matches and Hong Kong battling at Division 2. Likewise, Oman relegated from Division 2 and now in at Division 3.
Regarding the weather, it will not be so easy to battle in this event, as high temperature at UAE can reach 38 to 40 degree (Celsius) in October. Nepali players do not have the habit of playing in the hot conditions. However, slow and low track will surely be in favor of Nepali team as they heavily rely on their spinners. Nepali batsmen Sharad Vesawkar, Anil Mandal, Subash Khakurel and Gyanendra Malla will enjoy the long boundary as these batsmen used to play ground shots. However, Pradeep Airee and Paras Khadka must calculate the distance between pitch and boundary rope before hitting shots in the air. It will be hard to clear the fence through the air against top quality bowlers of UAE, Hong Kong, Oman and Afghanistan.
Nepali Bowlers will be tested in this contest as they are not premier fast & and rely on their line and length only. But spin does remain a threat for any opponents. Basanta and Shakti announced their selves as“dangerous” as the duo already impressed with their variation and had some of the opposition batsmen to fear in recently concluded tournaments. Sanjam Regmi’s off break can create doubt on batsman’s mind as well. Likewise, Amrit Bhattarai and Binod Das’s initial spells will be crucial, it will decide the bowling effort of the team as every team expect early break through from opening bowlers. Paras Khadka can backup pacers with his clever bowling.
Moreover, it is big time for Sharad Vesawkar and Prithu Baskota to show their worth in the playing XI. They find their selves under pressure not just for lack of runs, but also shrinking confidence. It is hard to regain position in team all the time despite lack of contribution from bat as Naresh Budhayer, Sagar Pun and Rajesh Pulami is ready to show up from national team. Absence of Chandra Saud could heart Nepal as he has good reminiscence of ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in UAE. He suffered from shoulder injury. Binod Bhandari is taking his place and Bhuwan Karki came in for Rahul BK, who is having discomfort due to back pain.
Nepal will start the tournament playing against UAE on October 3. Then after, Nepal faces Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong on October 6, 7 and 9 respectively. Semi-finals matches will be played on October 10 and winner will be decided on October 12.
Form guide
Tournament Form guide
Nepal Squad: Paras Khadka (captain), Gyanendra Malla (vice-captain), Pradeep Airee, Subash Khakurel, Anil Mandal, Prithu Baskota, Sharad Vesawkar, Basant Regmi, Sanjam Regmi, Shakti Gauchan, Binod Das, Amrit Bhattarai, Binod Bhandari, Bhuwan Karki.
Coach: Pubudu Dassanayake
Just Nepali Cricket
Kathmandu – Nepali Cricket team will leave for Sri Lanka on December 17 for four practice matches with the local team perhaps Sri Lanka A as a part of their preparation for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2015 Qualifier, to be held in New Zealand from January 13 to February 2014.
The team will take four days break from tomorrow and will be kept on for the close camp before they depart for practice tour. Moreover, the team will go to NZ before the qualifier starts and will play four practice matches there.
Nepal along with Uganda, PNG, Hong Kong, UAE, Namibia, Kenya, Scotland, Netherlands and Canada will play for available two spot for the ICC World Cup 2015.
Top Two among these ten teams will be selected for World Cup while top four will be granted One Day Status for four years.
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Former Indian cricket legend VVS Laxman today praised Nepali cricket team and its success. Laxman came to Nepal as representative of Air India cricket team and the team is competing at the Journey to World Cup cricket tournament. “I followed Nepal’s matches of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in UAE” he said while talking with players at TU ground. He said Nepal is in right path.
He added, “I determined to contribute for the nation by playing cricket in my childhood after our cricket team won the World Cup on 1983, and I can say many Nepali youth is thinking in the same way now, and it is big success of Nepali cricket”.
Laxman highlighted match exposure is vital for Nepal’s success in coming day.
Just Nepali Cricket
4. Coach, Asst. coach and official also will get reward
DDCA U-25 managed to score mere 112 runs in 20 overs.

Nepali Cricketers who helped Nepal to reach the ICC World Twenty20 Cup 2014 will get Rs 1 million each from the government as reward. Moreover, Coach will get Rs 5 Lakhs. Assistant coach and official will receive Rs 3.5 Lakh each from the government, for their contribution to the team and its success.
JNC – Nepal trounced DDCA U-25 by 36 runs improving yesterday’s performance in the second friendly match played at Roshanara Club Ground, Delhi.
Opener Subhash Khakurel and vice captain Gyanendra Malla added 25 and 13 runs respectively that helped Nepal to post 148 runs in allotted 20 overs. Abhisekh Bhatti of DDCA U-25 took three wickets conceding 28 runs while Rishi Saini and Manoj Chouhan claimed a wicket each.
Chasing the huge total, DDCA U-25 started smoothly as they sensibly played on power play. Nepal got first breakthrough on last ball of the sixth over bowled by Jitendra Mukhiya, when Basata took good catch and made Saurabh Pasi out, when the total was 35 runs. Off spinner Sagar Pun immediately removed another opener Mohit Sharma by stumping out with the help of wicketkeeper Subash. DDCA players failed to coup with disciplined Nepali bowlers where only Jitendra Mukhiya conceded six runs as wide, other bowlers and fielders didn’t leak any runs as extra.
Nitesh Lochabh made highest 26 runs off 17 balls. Mohit Sharma and Milind Kumar added 19 and 18 runs to their scoreboard respectively. Sagar Pun returned with the best figure of 4-0-23-4. Mukhiya and Basanta Regmi claimed three and two wickets respectively.
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5. Brief summary: Match no. 2
Nepal vs DDCA U-25
Venue: Roshanara Club Ground, Delhi
Toss: DDCA U-25 won the toss and elected to field firstBatting: Nepal 148/6 (20 overs)Paras Khadka 80 (58), Subash Khakurel 25 (17), Gyanendra Malla 13 (13), Pradeep Airee 12 (14), Sharad Vesawkar 06 (05), Sagar Pun 00 (04) (Extras: 6) (NB-0, W-2, BYE-2, LBYE-2)Bowling:  Abhisek Bhatti  3/28 (4 overs) , Manoj Chauhan 1/25 (4 overs) ,  Rishi Saini 1/27  (4 overs)Batting: DDCA U-25 112/9 (20 overs)Nitesh Lobchha  26 (17),  Mohit Sharma 21 (19),  Milind Kumar 18 (17)(Extras: 6) (NB-0,W-6, BYE-0, LBYE –0)Bowling:  Sagar Pun 4/23 (4 overs), Jitendra Mukhiya 3/25 (4 overs), Basanta Regmi 2/10 (4 overs)

Result: Nepal won the match by 36 runs.
Indian Premier League (IPL) and Indian domestic star-studded Under-25 Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA U-25) defeated Nepali team in the first practice match by 4 wickets with 5 balls remaining at Feroze Shah Kotla Cricket Stadium, Delhi today.
DDCA U-25 team elected to field first after winning the toss. Nepali team made a respectable 137 runs spending four wickets in allotted 20 overs. Opener Subash Khakurel contributed highest 45 runs while Captain Paras Khadka made 39 not out in 26 balls. Gyanendra Malla and Binod Bhandari added 26 and 11 runs respectively. Varoon Sood of DDCA U-25 took two wickets conceding just 16 runs in four over, while Vikram Dahiya and Yogesh Nagar took one wicket apiece.
In reply, DDCA U-25 reached the target five balls prior with the help of 73 not out off 46 balls by 21 years old Dhrub Shorey. Delhi Daredevils (IPL team) star Pawan Negi
added 26 runs for the team while Aditya Kaushik added 15 to it. Meanwhile, Basanta Regmi and Jitendra Mukhiya took two wickets each while captain Paras Khadka claimed one and one wicket came as run out for Nepal. At last, it was not enough total to defend DDCA U-25 claimed the last over victory.
Results apart, Nepal team got the good match experience of playing such a tough side. The newer things learnt through these seven matches will really help them make a fruitful strategy in the upcoming ICC World T20 Qualifiers to be held in UAE from November 10, 2013.

7. Brief Summary:
Toss: DDCA U-25 won the toss and elected to field first
First Inning:
Batting: Nepal 137/4 (20 overs)
Subash Khakurel 45 (40), Paras Khadka 39* (26), Gyanendra Malla 26 (33), Binod Bhandari 11 (12), Sharad Vesawkar 06 (08), Sagar Pun 03 (04) (Extras: 7) (NB-3, W-3, BYE-0, LBYE-1)
Bowling: Varun Sood 2/16 (4 overs) , Vikram Dahiya 1/15 (3 overs) , Yogesh Nagar 1/17 (2 overs)
Second Inning:
Batting: DDCA U-25 138/6 (19.1 overs)
Dhruv Shorey 73* (46), Pawan Negi 26 (16), Aditya Kaushik 15 (16)
(Extras: 3) (NB-1,W-2, BYE-0, LBYE –0)
Bowling: Basanta Regmi 2/21 (3 overs), Jitendra Mukhiya 2/29 (3.1 overs), Paras Khadka 1/27 (3 overs)
Result: DDCA U-25 won the match by four wickets.Just Nepali Cricket

Nepal vs DDCA U-25
Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, Delhi
Similarly, batsmen Anil Mandal and Naresh Budhayer were performing solidly for NA. However, skipper Binod Bhandari is yet to show his talent in this short format cricket. Rahul BK, Rupesh Shrivastav and Chandra Sawad were looking solid in bowling department.
Pratap Dulal/Kathmandu – As expected, Nepal Army (NA) Club and Armed Police Force (APF) Club set to play at the final of National T20 Cricket Tournament, in TU Cricket Stadium, Kirtipur. APF were defending champion and NA is debutant of this tournament, but many people anticipated the same state given the team’s strength with number of national players in both teams.
APF has been showing supremacy in the national level cricket tournaments since its formation by recruiting top national players. Once, APF missed to lift the trophy of same tournament by losing the final against Nepal Police Club (NPC). However, NPC did not continued the cricket team and all the players were release from contract except Binod Das, Manjeet Shrestha and Manoj Katuwal, who has been serving as permanent staff. However, many of the NPC members currently representing the NA club and APF may face tough task recalling the history, when they meet in the final.
AFP’s journey to the final was mixture of more easy along with few tough matches. APF did sweat hard particularly against Nepalgunj, when APF was bundled out for only 92 runs. Bowler Aakash Bista and Amar Routela was hero of that match as both took four wickets each. Nevertheless, APF had enough bowling strength to defend the total. Yet, experience of Mahesh Chhetri and Anupam Singh could upset the mighty APF, which did not happen, as the match was washed-out by rain. At other match, Birgunj showed some fight against APF and lost the match by 76 runs. Pokhara, Janakpur and Biratnagar could not stay against the quality batting, bowling and fielding of compact APF team and they surrendered the matches by 92, 137 and 86 runs respectively.
Likewise, Debutant Nepal Army (NA) club also had mixed experience in league stage but they easily surpassed the hurdle of semi final, as rain faded the match and NA reached final via net run rate calculation. NA got +1.604 NRR and other semi finalist Kathmandu finished with -0.185 in league round matches, so the performance at league round help them to reach the final. At beginning, NA struggled on batting as their top order fail to perform consistently. However, they settled down themselves in following matches and improved the batting, especially top order started to perform well.
For APF, top scorer of this tournament Gyanendra, captain Paras and batsman Sharad Vesawkar will be key in batting department. Left arm spin trio Shakti Gauchan, Basanta Regmi and Bhuwan Karki could be threat for NA team.
Since both teams have enough talent and experience to show grand battle in the final whereas APF will have upper hand given their fixed playing set up. NA yet to have that advantage as the club formed just less than a month ago.
The match between Nepal Army (NA) Club and Armed Police Force (APF) club to be held on October 4 at 10:00 AM in TU Ground, Kirtipur.
Just Nepali Cricket
Fight Big Blue!
Go Team Nepal!
Kathmandu – British Army Cricket Team confirmed their Nepal tour to play the Friendly Twenty20 Cricket Match with Nepal Army Cricket Team.
According to the source, the match will be played on October 18 and they will play only twenty20 match as this will be their first visit to Nepal.
British Army Team will arrive on October 16 in Nepal after completing their Friendly Cricket Match with Indian Army Cricket Team.
Kathmandu – Departmental team Nepal Army (NA) is all set to contest at the National Twenty 20 Cricket League starting from September 26 (Ashoj 10) here in Kathmandu.
NA recruited eight national players and six regional players along with few players within Army, to make their strong presence at 11-team competition. Binod Bhandari, Sagar Pun, Avinash Karna, Rahul BK, Naresh Budhayer, Chandra Sawad, Anil Mandal and Pradeep Airee are included from the National Team where as Regional players like Indra Kamal Manandhar, Rupesh Shrivastav, Bijay Gautam, Rajesh Pulami, Prabin Joshi and Rabin Joshi, used to play for Region no 3, Kathmandu.
NA team will be under the coach Arun Satyal and about to play for the first in National league. The other departmental team – Nepal Police (NP) also formed the team to play the national league two years ago. NP won the T20 League in its first appearance defeating APF and advanced to the final of 50 over national cricket league, where they lost against APF. However, Police failed to continue their team and participation due to their focus on other sports.
Previously, Binod Bhandari, Chandra Sawad, Naresh Budhayer and Pradeep Airee played for Nepal Police Team as well. Formation of Army team may threat to the dominance of Armed Police Force (APF) led by National cricket team’s captain Paras Khadka and expected to have great match between these two departmental teams.
 Just Nepali Cricket
Pratap Dulal/Kathmandu
Nepal will face UAE in the final of ACC Trophy Elite 2012, after a win over Malaysia by 21 runs in the semi-final on October 10. UAE also reached final with a comprehensive eight wickets win over Afghanistan. The final match will take place in Sharjah Cricket Stadium, the same venue where Nepal defeated UAE in the group stage.
Nepal’s comfortable victory against UAE in the league round match has offered another opportunity to prove that the players are capable of playing good cricket and they can claim victory in the final match. However, UAE still holds as a dangerous opponent for team Nepal as they had won matches against Nepal in 1998, 2000, twice in 2002 (league and final), 2006 and in 2008 (both semi-finals), but one thing that team Nepal has to believe is that they can hammer anyone in cricket, specially when the players are performing at their best level. The team has only code to adhere to, “Attitude determines altitude”.
The biggest Nepalese festival ‘Dashain’ is approaching nearer and Nepali cricket fans’ only wish is to get “ACC Elite Trophy” as a gift from their National team. Now, Nepal is likely to win the trophy since the team is in a good momentum after playing continuous matches in two big tournaments. Although Nepal reached final of same tournament in 2002 and 2010 as well, but it got defeated by UAE by six wickets in first and with Afghanistan by 95 runs. Now Nepal is looking for ODI status by 2015, therefore, lifting this trophy will maintain their winning trend as this is the biggest platform for the Non-test playing Asian nation.
Team Nepal just needs to ooze out with its true potential in the final clash. Yes, victory comes with a price. And it is time to exaggerate its mental, physical and emotional aptitude with no room left for errors. Players need to play as per their potential.
Let’s focus on team Nepal strength. Everyone knows Anil Mandal and Gyanendra Malla have the ability to punish opponent’s bowling while Subash Khakurel and Sharad Vesawkar can score with ease and make decent bowlers distrust. Skipper Paras Khadka, who is the leading run scorer in tournament with 260 runs, has ability to change the game with both bat and ball, which he already demonstrated in the tournament. Meanwhile, Prithu Baskota is back in shape as a key all rounder and Pradeep Airee has matured as a good cricketer. Without any doubt, Nepal can really count on its youth strength.
Similarly, left-arm-spinners Shakti Gauchan and Basanta Regmi know how to bowl, spinning good length delivery to upset the batsmen. Even part time bowlers Prithu and Pradeep are capable of concrete effort, which is becoming strong point of Nepali team. However, injury of fast bowler Amrit Bhattarai is the main concern, as he hurt himself during the match against Malaysia and is less likely to play in the final. Likewise, Binod Das has not played a single game because of his injury as well. There is chance of comeback by senior off-spinner Sanjam Regmi given that there will be immense pressure for final. After lack of pace bowler, Binod Bhandari can play as an extra batsman, which strengthens the batting line up.
“Looks like both Amrit and Binod will not be available in the final match“, Pubudu Dassanayeke, Nepali Cricket Coach said to Cricnepal. “Team is playing quality cricket and we need to continue the same form in the finals.”, he added further.
Team Gorkha is heading towards success path with both integrative and co-operative state of mind and it already yielded qualification for ACC Emerging Teams event next year when they will be up against the A-teams from the four Test-playing Asian nations along with UAE, host Singapore and winner of 3rd place play-off.
This is an excellent opportunity to prove Nepal’s executing capacity in International Cricket. Let’s show everyone that we can win. Moreover, it is time to rectify the previous miss steps and strengthen our outstanding form in this final battle for the title. If Nepal manages to win the trophy, it will be the second in foreign soil, an accomplishment that our generation can really take pride upon.
Go Big Red!
Just Nepali Cricket

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