The Nepali national cricket team is set to practice in India, but the captain and a few key players will not be participating.
The team left for India on Monday last week to prepare for the upcoming tri-nation series under the ICC World Cup League-2, scheduled to be held in Canada.
According to Chhumbi Lama, the spokesperson for the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), captain Rohit Kumar Paudel, all-rounder Dipendra Singh Airee, and leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane will not join the training in India as they are currently in Canada after the completion of the Global T20 League.
“Our final destination is Canada, so they will remain there. Dipendra and Rohit will head to the West Indies for another league, while Sandeep will stay in Canada,” said Lama.
He also mentioned that due to the rainy season in Nepal, the team plans to arrive in Canada well before the matches. The team will undergo two weeks of training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore.
This will be the first time the Nepali team practices at this well-equipped academy, in collaboration with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Nepal will play a tri-nation series in September in Canada against Oman and the host team. This will be Nepal’s second series under League-2.
Nepal played its first round of the tri-nation series at home, competing against Namibia and the Netherlands, where they won only one match against the Netherlands. Last week, CAN called 22 players for closed training.
“In the training camp in India, 19 players, except for Rohit, Sandeep, and Dipendra, will participate. Gulshan Jha and Dev Khanal, who are already in India, will join the team there. Head coach Monty Desai will also join the team in India,” added Lama.