Making its way for 2019, CPL 2019 has recently announced its selection of Nepali cricket players for the upcoming season.

A total of four Nepali cricketers, namely Sompal Kami, Dipendra Singh Aire, Rohit Kumar Paudel and Sandeep Lamichhane, have been shortlisted for CPL 2019.

CPL 2019 will be the second for Sandeep as he also played CPL 2018 from St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.

The auction of all the players in the draft, which includes 536 foreign players, will be held on May 22, 2019.

Sandeep has been riding on success path and has recently emerged as the highest wicket-taking spinner in T20 cricket 2019 as of April 2019.

Meanwhile, Sompal has also ascended in global ICC World T20 rankings to the 70^th position for his ‘bowling’ performance and 51^st position as an ‘all-rounder’.

Wish the players would repeat their magic in CPL 2019 too!

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Tribhuvan University ground is planning preparations, on a grand scale, to host the country’s first-ever ODI series on the lines of the World Cup 2023.

This is going to be first-ever ODI series being planned after ICC announced the first eight series of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 scheduled to begin in August 2019.

The country is now eagerly waiting to host the US and Oman teams for the tri-series scheduled to begin on February 05, 2020.

While the ICC inspection team has not confirmed about the readiness of the ground for the upcoming series, TU authorities say the ground will be good to go by the time of the series.

“We still have 8-9 months for the series. The TU cricket ground is already in a decent state to host international matches. It will be upgraded to meet other requirements. Proper dressing rooms and security were the main concerns for the ICC invigilators which will be addressed to help prepare the venue,” says Raman Shiwakoti, Nepal’s team manager. #NepalCricketEvents

The participating cricket teams of Nepal, Namibia, Oman, PNG, Scotland, the UAE and the United States will play a total of 36 ODIs over the two-and-a-half period from August 2019 to January 2022, before the final World Cup 2023 series in India.

The whole League 2 schedule has 126 ODIs including 21 tri-series, beginning with the first series of the league in Scotland on August 14, 2019.

In every series, each of the teams will play a total of six ODIs, competing for the top three spots of the League 2 table for the final entry to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2022. #ICCCricketWorldcup2023

“The new structure, which has been developed in close consultation with the Members, will present some outstanding cricket and, most importantly, will ensure that the Associate Members that qualify for the Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier are even better prepared to stake their claim for a place at India 2023,” says William Glenwright, ICC General Manager for Development.

According to ICC, this will be the first time that 20 teams will get ODI status, both in ICC events and in Member-organised bilateral cricket.

Cricket World Cup 2023: Nepal Schedule (Feb 2020 – Jan 2022)

All the best Nepal for the next big cricket event!

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This became evident in a recent update, which said the country has made some good investment for the sports infrastructure development in Banke.

The government has reportedly spent around NPR 480 million in view of the 8^th National Games to develop:

• Sophisticated football ground
• Weight Lifting Academy
• Shooting Range
• Swimming Pool
• Athletics Track
• Judo Hall
• International Cricket Ground
• Volleyball Stadium

A total of NPR 240 million has been dedicated for the construction of Nepalgunj stadium, while the football stadium is being built at a cost of 180 million.

According to Nepal Sports Council Member Secretary Keshab Kumar Bista, this is the highest-ever infrastructure investment that the country has made in its sports history.

While the opening ceremony of the event has been scheduled for April 18, 2019, 16 of 35 games have already ended after a start from April 10, 2019. Nepal Army garnered highest number of medals in the concluded games.

It is noteworthy that paragliding is making its first-ever entry to the National Games this year. The paragliding competition part of 8^th National Games has been scheduled in Pokhara from April 19, 2019.

Also Read:

• Paragliding Makes Way to 8th Nepal National Games

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Despite four wins against Malaysia, Oman, Singapore and Kuwait, Nepal failed to see the expected success in the ICC U19 Qualifier tournament. The team lost the chance to enter the ICC World Cup Cricket 2020 after its failure in a match against UAE on April 13, 2019.

UAE won all the five matches and will now move to the main ICC U19 World Cup event!

Here are some highlights about Nepal U19 Team’s performance in the tournament:

Nepal Vs Kuwait Match-5: Nepal Won by 8 Wickets 

Match 5 of the tournament saw an intense fight between Nepal and Kuwait teams.

The match began with Nepalis winning the toss and choosing to field first.

Kuwait team stepped in to bat and made a slow start. Driven by Noman Budroo’s 70-run score and single-digit scores by many others, the team managed to score 157 runs in 49.4 overs for the loss of all wickets.

RK Paudel, followed Nepali bowlers Rashid Khan, Surya Tamang and Kushal Malla, was the highest wicket-taker from Nepali bowling side.

Then Nepalis began their batting innings in a massive way and did not take much time to finish the set target. Gautam began his batting high on confidence and scored 62 runs in 84 balls. Next in the order, Sarraf also exhibited his outstanding performance by with 53-run score in 61 balls.

Aasif Sheikh continued the spirit and scored 33 runs in 20 balls. In partnership with Jora, he drove the team to the winning streak.  Nepali batsmen finished their target within 28 overs for the loss of just 2 wickets at 5.71 run rate.

Kuwait Vs Nepal – Match Summary

Gautam grabbed the ‘Player of the Match’ title!

Man of the Match – Rit Gautam, Nepal

Nepal Vs Oman: Match-4: Nepal Wins by 150 Runs

The Match-4 of the ICC U19 tournament saw Nepal and Oman facing each other. Oman won the toss and chose to field first.

Nepali team stepped in to bat with Gautam and Sarraf as openers. Openers made a slow start scoring 10 runs and 5 runs, respectively. Then came Basnet, who also scored just 15 runs.

Next, in the order, Paudel stood as the game-changer by scoring 75 runs in 81 balls, giving the major boost to the team’s scorecard.

Next to Paudel stood Pratis as the second highest scorer with 41 runs in 23 balls, followed by Sharki with 39 runs in 43 balls.

At the end of the innings, the Nepali team scored 229 runs in 43.2 overs, at a 5.28 run rate, for the loss of all wickets.

Then stepped in Oman team making a slow start. Despite sincere attempts, the team had a tough time facing Nepali bowlers. Starting with openers, all the team members made only single-digit scores finally falling short of the target. The team was all-out for 79 runs!

U19CWC Qualifier Asia 2019: Nepal Vs Oman match summary

Sarraf stood as the highest wicket taker of the match with 3 wickets, followed by Pratis GC (2) and Surya Tamang (2), among others.

Rohit Paudel was announced ‘Player of the Match’!

Nepal Vs Malaysia: Match 3 – Nepal Won by 8 Wickets

Continuing the winning streak, Nepal won their third match in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Asia 2019 against Malaysia. Nepal beat Malaysian U19 team by 8 wickets in just 13 overs!

The winning team initially won the toss and elected to field first.

Aslam Khan and Wan Amirul opened the match for the Malaysian team but to no avail. Khan was bowled at the very third ball of the match owing to a joint runout from HB Chauhan and KS Airee. On the other hand, Amirul made just 7 runs from 17 deliveries.

Nepal player Mahamad Asif Sheikh – ICC Cricket 2019

The game continued on a slump until Iezzat Daniel Fiqry came by and single-handedly gave the team 37 runs off 55 deliveries. Finally, Malaysia wound up the game with a total of 92 runs at 33.5 overs.

Nepali bowlers Pawan Sarraf and Kushal Malla remained the highest wicket-takers, claiming ‘six’ Malaysian wickets (three each).

Then came Nepal’s turn. The team began the batting innings with Rit Gautam and Sarraf, who registered a whopping 58 runs to Nepal’s credit.

Nepal’s Rit Gautam in ICC U19 CWC Asia Qualifier

Next in line, Aasif Sheik and Captain Rohit Kumar Paudel registered 26 and 6 runs, respectively. wrapped up its game with 95 runs in 13 out of 50 overs.

U19CWC Qualifier Asia: Malaysia Vs Nepal – Match Summary

Nepal not only made a strong defense but also displayed a splendid batting performance throughout the match.

Nepal’s Pawan Sarraf was again named ‘Player of the Match’. Congratulations once again Team Nepal!

Stay tuned for more interesting updates on the ICC U19 World Cup Qualifier Asia 2019!

Nepal Vs Singapore: Match 1 – Nepal Wins By 217 runs

Nepal makes a winning start in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Asia 2019! The Nepal U19 team met Singapore for its first match for the Asia Qualifier at Kuala Lumpur on April 12, 2019.

Singapore won the toss and elected to field first.

Nepal Opening batsmen Rit Gautam and P Sarraf registered 1 and 47 runs respectively, giving Nepal a decent start. Doubling Sarraf’s score and becoming the highest scorer in the team, Paudel then made a contribution of 95 runs for his team.

Besides these players, B Sharki’s 26 runs, KS Airee’s 31 runs and Rashid Khan’s 48 runs helped the team wind up their first Asia Qualifier match with a magnificent 282 runs in 46 overs.

Then came Singapore’s turn. The team’s batting line began with SH Venugopal and A Chabria registering a score of 18 and 2 runs, respectively.

However, Chabria’s stint ended with a partnered run out by Rashid Khan and Kushal Malla.

Besides I Sawney (28) and Venugopal (18), all the other players were able to make single digit runs. Thanks to Nepal’s strong line of defense on the field!

In all, Singapore was able to make a total of just 65 runs after losing all wickets in 31 overs.

Nepal’s Pawan Sarraf was named ‘Player of the Match’.

Pawan Sarraf, Nepal – Nepal U19 Vs Singapore U19

Congratulations Team Nepal!

Hope the young lads keep up their good work and lead Nepal to the U19 World Cup Trophy.

Background

Nepal has finally announced a 14-men squad part of its U-19 team for the tournament scheduled to be held in Malaysia during April 10-18, 2019.

As per the announcement on April 02, 2019, the team has roped in some experienced players from the senior national cricket team who played in UAE tour.

Nepal’s new cricket sensation Rohit Poudel, known as the youngest half-centurion in international cricket, is leading the team.

The team also has another world record holder Sundeep Jora, known as the youngest half-centurion in T20I cricket, alongside the former Youth Asia Cup captain Aasif Sheikh and the off-spinning all-rounder Pawan Sarraf, among others.

Pace bowlers Rashid Khan and Kamal Singh Airee and left-arm spin bowlers Sagar Dhakal and Surya Tamang are among the key bowlers in the team.

All-rounder Kushal Malla, wicket keeper Hari Bahadur Chauhan, batsman Avishek Basnet and left-arm pace bowler Pratish GC were among the newcomers willing to check their luck part of the squad.

Poudel Confident About Squad

Poudel was confident about the new squad and is hopeful about the newcomers’ entry.

“The players know their role, which is a good thing heading into a crucial tournament. We are feeling good collectively with our performances in the recent practice tour. There are few experienced players in the squad which certainly makes my job easier in the middle. We can always talk to each other in difficult situations,” Poudel said in a statement.

Newcomers Add Freshness

Welcoming the newcomers, he stated, “The newcomers are always refreshing. They bring new ideas in the team. Pratish has done well swinging the new ball and also bowling well in death overs.”

Hari Bahadur Chauhan was elated on his first-ever selection for the national team.

“This will be my first time as a wicket-keeper batsman. The team required a back-up keeper for the tour and the coach trusted me to do justice with the role. He had seen me wicket-keeping for Dhangadhi Stars during DPL. He also had given me few matches with gloves during the practice tour of India,” Chauhan said in a statement.

Tournament Details

Nepal national U-19 cricket team is scheduled to fly to Malaysia on April 6, 2019. With no practice matches in prior, the team will face UAE, Malaysia, Oman, Singapore and Kuwait in a single round-robin format to secure its spot (from the Asian region) in the U19 World Cup scheduled to be held in South Africa in 2020.

All the matches of the tournament are planned to be played at Kinrara Oval, Bayuemas Oval in Klang and at the UKM Oval stadiums in Bangi.

All the matches will be played in a 50-over format and are most likely to be ‘day games’ starting at 9:30 am of the local time.

Nepal will face Singapore in its inaugural match of the tournament on April 12 at UKM Oval.

The previous edition of Asia qualifiers saw Afghanistan beat Nepal in the final to secure its spot in the 2018 edition of U19 World Cup in New Zealand.  Now a test nation, Afghanistan has automatically qualified for the upcoming edition of the world cup in South Africa in 2020.

ICC U19 World Cup Qualifier Asia 2019 Division-1 Schedule

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The country’s players have shown some good developments over the period in both the sports, locally and globally.

While the country is performing well in its ICC rankings for cricket, here comes another interesting update about the country’s stable position in world football rankings.

In the latest FIFA rankings, Nepal stood at 161^st position, the same place where it has been since the last ranking.

Though it remained the same in global rankings, the Himalayan nation has shown some notable improvement in regional ranking.

FIFA placed Nepal at the third position in South Asia ranking, with India at the top (101^st position global ranking) followed by Maldives (151), Bhutan (186), Bangladesh (188), Pakistan (200) and Sri Lanka (202).

Coming to the top of the global list, Belgium stood ahead followed by France in second position, Brazil (3), England (4), Croatia (5), Uruguay (6) and Portugal (7).

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Sandeep, who is currently playing the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019, reached a new milestone as the highest wicket-taking spinner in T20 tournaments in 2019.

The 18-year-old cricketer set this record in a match he was playing for Delhi Capitals against Kings XI Punjab on April 01, 2019.

With the new 2 wickets (for 27 runs in 4 overs) in this match, Sandeep’s number of wickets in the current #IPL2019 reached 3.

In total, Sandeep claimed 27 wickets in T20 matches in 2019 standing ahead of Shahid Afridi 26, Afghanistan and Sunrisers Hyderabad bowler Rashid Khan’s 25, and Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan 24 wickets.

Sandeep’s new record is backed by his performance at Big Bash League (BBL), Bangladesh Premier League and most recently, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) before arriving in India for IPL 2019.

Meanwhile, England player Curran was the first to take hat-trick in IPL 2019 season.

Also Read

• Sandeep Lamichhane- Pride of Nepal’s New-Age Cricket
• Sandeep Lamichhane Bags ‘Breakthrough Star’ Title

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In this regard, the team has already left for Myanmar on March 31, 2019 to play the second round of the series in ‘Group A’ alongside Myanmar, India, and Indonesia.

Nepali team’s journey in the second round will begin with Myanmar on April 3, 2019, followed by the one with India on April 06, 2019 and finally with Indonesia on April 09, 2019.

The 25-member Nepali team, on Myanmar tour, consists of 20 players and five officials.

25-member Nepali Women’s Football team

Niru Thapa is the Captain of the Nepali team that has former national captain Hari Khadka as the Head Coach and Bhagwati Rana Magar as the Assistant Coach.

Mrigendra Mishra is the goalkeeping Coach and Manisha Maharjan is on board as Physiotherapist, while Kamala Hirachan is playing the Manager role.

While, the squad includes:

• Goalkeeper: AnjilaTumbapo Subba, Anjana Rana Magar and Usha Nath;
• Defender: Hira Kumari Bhujel, Gita Rana, Punam Jargha Magar, Amrita Jaisi, Kabita Dhimal, Puja Rana, Manamaya Limbu
• Midfielder: Anita Basnet, Deepa Rai, Manjali Kumari Yonjan, Sarmila Thapa, Saru Limbu, Renuka Nagarkote, Anita KC;
• Forward: Rekha Paudel, Niru Thapa, Sabitra Bhandari

The winner of this round will qualify for the third round of the Qualifier series that is expected to be in January or February 2020.

All the best Nepal!

Also Read:

• Nepal Loses Against India in SAFF Women’s Championship 2019 Finals

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Nepal made another important milestone in the ongoing Fifth SAFF Women’s Championship 2019. Nepali football team had moved to semi-finals after a win against Bangladesh.

Continuing with the pace, the Himalayan nation made a face-off with Sri Lanka in the semi-final match at Shahid Rangashala on March 20, 2019.

The semi-final match saw Nepal defeating out Sri Lanka and securing its place in the finals of the championship. Sri Lankan team, despite its efforts at the start, failed to withstand Nepali team’s sudden fight-back at 42^nd minute by Puna Jargha Magar.

This continued further and Nepal performed extremely well in the last 20 minutes of the match with Anita Basnet’s goal at 73rd minute giving the team a 2-0 lead.

Sabitri Bhandari and Rekha Paudel scored one each.

At the end of the match, Nepal finished at 4-0 against Lanka, securing its place in the finals of 5^th SAFF Championship.

Hope the team will continue the spirit and grab the championship title with a far more better performance in the finals.

Nepal Vs Bangladesh

In a recent update, Nepal bagged another victory in the form of ongoing fifth SAFF Women’s Championship 2019 campaign. Nepal registered a 3-0 victory over Bangladesh in the 5^th SAFF Women’s Football Championship Semis!

The Himalayan nation took the lead after team member Masura Prabhin secured a goal in the 6^th minute of the game. The successive goal was then taken by Sabitra Bhandari in the 23^rd minute, soon followed by the winning shot by Manjali Kumari Yonzon in the 28^th minute.

This victory made Nepal the winners of the Group A side.

Nepal Vs Bhutan

Nepali SAFF team made a winning start with 3-0 win against Bhutan in the first match of the SAFF Women’s Championship held at the Sahid Rangasala in Biratnagar on March 12, 2019.

Nepal began to take on the opponents right from the start with the first scoring by Midfielder Yonjan at the at 13^th minute.

Striker Bhandari later picked up the pace and scored 2-0 later. This gave 23^rd international goal for Bhandari making her stand third among the all-time highest scorers behind Anu Lama (35) and Jamuna Gurung (25).

The third goal for Nepali team came at the 55^th minute with Skipper Thapa making a finishing shot.

“We did not get the score as expected. We had expected to score at least six goals against Bhutan. Although we created frequent scoring chances, we failed to make full use of them,” Nepal’s head coach Hari Khadka said in a statement.

Rekha Paudel made her international debut in the Nepali team with the Tuesday’s match.

It is noteworthy Nepal had performed in a much better way against Bhutan in earlier matches. The team registered 8-0 win twice against Bhutan in the group stages in 2014 and 2016 editions of the SAFF tournament.

This win pushed Nepali team a step ahead in the semi-finals from the three-team ‘Group A’ alongside Bangladesh.

Now, Nepal is scheduled to take on Bangladesh on March 16, 2019. But prior to that Bangladesh will play a match with Bhutan on March 14, 2019.

The post Fifth SAFF Women’s Championship 2019: Nepal Beats Lanka to Enter Finals appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Nepal Youth and Sports Minister Jagat Bahadur Bishwakarma laid the foundation for a 18,500-capacitive multi-purpose stadium in Pokhara on March 10, 2019.

The construction of the stadium began two months back and is expected to be completed on time before the commencement of South Asian Games (SAG) 2019. #SAG2019

“We have the responsibility to host South Asian Games (SAG), which is a matter of our national prestige. I am sure that construction will be completed on time,” says the Minister.

Bishwakarma further informed that the stadium is being constructed with the state-of-the-art facilities and would help in promoting Pokhara for ‘sports tourism’ in Nepal.

“We need to make sure that the master plan meets latest standards. Even if it takes 10-15 years to complete, the stadium needs to meet all the requirements of the international arena,” says National Sports Council Keshav Kumar Bista.

Bista confirmed that the football ground construction will be completed within the set deadlines to host SAG 2019.

“The stadium with 18,500 seats will be Nepal’s biggest and most advanced sports facility. It can be expanded to 30,000 seats in future,” Bista adds.

To facilitate SAG 2019, special sports halls for Archery and lawn tennis courts are also being constructed. However, the construction of cricket ground, tracks, hall for Martial Arts, swimming pool and other facilities are yet to begin.

For the first time in Nepal’s history, the construction authority is using steel modular system for building the new stadium and is importing material from France and Germany.

“Every association and council should help on their parts to complete this project, which will help establish Pokhara and the entire Gandaki province as a center of sports tourism in future. Sports lovers should press concerned officials for timely completion of the project,” read an official statement.

Multi-purpose hall is being constructed at an investment of NPR 150 million, Archery Arena with NPR 20 million, Tennis hard court, clay court and changing room along with parapet with NPR 25 million, Badminton-covered hall with NPR Rs 35 million, Volleyball training area with NPR 12.5 million and a Handball ground with Rs 1 million investment.

The stadium is being built at a total cost of NPR 1.3 billion.

Follow Us for more such interesting Nepal sports breaking news!

Also Read

• International Cricket Stadium Coming Up At Bharatpur City!
• Nepal — A Growing Cricket Nation
• Sandeep Lamichhane – Pride of Nepal’s New-Age Cricket

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Here comes another new update about Nepal’s participation in one of the world’s summer championships.

Nepal is preparing for the Special Olympic World Summer Games in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) scheduled on March 14-21, 2019.

The participating Nepali team was given a grand farewell amid a program in Nepal Sports Council on March 05, 2019.

In the championship, Nepali players will be seen in the five-A side unified futsal, bocce and athletics.

Nagina Maharjan, Saurabh Karki, Adesh Raj Kafle, Adit Bajracharya, Ajaya Tamang, Elisa Neupane, Sabina Chhusyabaga, Anish Karki, Mahendra Karki, Ishwar Limbu, Mahima Koirala, Sagar Sherchan, Kshitiz Baniya, Sunita Sunuwar, Ishan Shrestha and Dhana Bahadur Chhetri are Nepali players participating in the sports tournament.

Ganesh Parajuli is the Chief Coach and Thakur Prasad Gautam is the Futsal Coach.

Rahul Lamichhane and Shanti Thapa are appointed athletics instructors, while Bimala Lama is going to be the bocce instructor.

Chairperson of Special Olympic Nepal Dr Shikshita Shrestha is leading the team as its leader.

The team will leave for UAE on March 7, 2019.

The upcoming trip will be the second such from Nepali sportsmen after the national cricket team’s recent visit for the ODI and Twenty20 cricket with UAE team.

Hope the summer tournament will be another biggie for Nepalis!

All the Best Nepal!

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