cricket

Bhupendra GC, Kathmandu Kathmandu - Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has appointed Pubudu Dassanayake as the head of the national cricket team of Nepal. This is the second time Dassanayake is taking charge of the national cricket team. Nepal had achieved historic feat in international cricket from 2011 to 2015 under the guidance of Dassanayake. The national team of Nepal coached by Dassanayake had participated in the 2014 T20 World Cup for the first time in history. It was the highest-ever honours Nepal had ever achieved. Nepal also won the titles of ICC World Cricket League Division Four and Three under his leadership. He had stepped down from his role as Nepal’s coach in November 2015 reportedly due to the internal conflict of CAN. Now, Dassanayake’s main challenge will b...

Bhupendra GC, Kathmandu Nepal must finish in the top two of the T20 Global Qualifiers to secure a place in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. With the Group A qualifiers set to take place in Oman this February, the focus should ideally be on preparation. However, the situation is quite the opposite. Instead of organizing domestic T20 tournaments, training camps, international exposure tours, or competitive series against strong teams, the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) appears entangled in an ongoing dispute with national players. The conflict began after captain Gyanendra Malla, vice-captain Dipendra Singh Airee, fast bowler Sompal Kami, and Kamal Singh Airee publicly expressed dissatisfaction over player grading before it was officially announced. What started as a disag...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - Nepal’s U-19 cricket team has been drawn in an easy group in the ACC U-19 Asia Cup to be organized by the Asian Cricket Council. Nepal is placed in Group B of the competition scheduled to be held in the UAE later this month. Nepal will face Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Kuwait in the group stage matches. Group A features India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and hosts UAE. The Group A matches will be held in Dubai while the Group B matches will be played in Sharjah. The U-19 Asia Cup is slated for December 23 to January 1 in the UAE. The top two teams from each group will advance into the semifinals. The first semifinal will be held at the ICC Academy Oval and the second semifinal will be played at Sharjah Cricket Ground simultaneously on December 30. Al...

Agencies India wrapped up the second Test against New Zealand with a crushing 372-run victory on Monday for a 1-0 series win with five sessions to spare. Resuming on 140-5 in pursuit of a nominal 540 in Mumbai, New Zealand were bowled out for 167. According to the BBC, the last five wickets of the Kiwis fell for five runs in 30 balls. Jayant Yadav, playing his first Test since 2017, took four wickets on Monday to finish with figures of 4-49 while fellow off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin claimed 4-34 - and a remarkable 8-42 in the match. New Zealand never came close to repeating their achievement in the first Test, when they fought back on the final day from nine wickets down to earn a draw. Despite India’s victory, the Test will be best remembered for New Zealand left-arm...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has announced a preliminary squad of 20 players for the upcoming ACC U-19 Men’s Asia Cup Cricket Championship to be held in the UAE from December 20 to January 2.    According to CAN, the players were selected on the basis of their performance during the recently held U-19 National Cricket Tournament. Besides Bivek Kumar Yadav, Tilak Raj Bhandari, Sher Malla and Gulshan Jha, all other players are new faces in the U-19 team. Most of the players in the squad are from the winning team Lumbini and the runner-up Sudur Paschim. Centurion Arjun Saud, Santosh Karki and Sonu Ansari are also included in the team. CAN informed that the players will start training from Thursday. Although the tournament is set to...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - Fast bowler Mohammad Hasan of Lumbini Province has been adjudged the player of the series and the best bowler of the recently concluded U-19 National Cricket Tournament. Likewise, Lumbini’s captain Dev Khanal was declared the best batsman of the tournament. The two players played a crucial role to help Lumbini clinch the title of the cricket tournament. Hasan took 21 wickets in seven matches to top the list. He alone took seven wicket against Gandaki Province in the league round match  at Mulpani Cricket Ground to bag the honours. Throughout the tournament, Hasan took 21 wickets in 57 overs including five maidens giving away 244 runs. He bagged a purse of Rs 15,000 for the title of the player of the series and another Rs 10,000 for the bes...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - An inspired performance by spinner Ajay Chauhan and fast bowler Durgesh Gupta helped Lumbini Province lift the title of the U-19 National Cricket Tournament on Sunday. Lumbini bagged the title by defeating Sudur Paschim Province with a wide margin of 113 runs  in the final held at TU Cricket Ground, Kirtipur. Chasing a total of 213 runs, Sudur Paschim were all out in 28.3 overs with just 99 runs on board. Lokesh Bam of Sudur Paschim was the top scorer for the team with 25 runs from 39 balls that included four boundaries. No other players were able to perform well in the match. Fast Bowler Durgesh Gupta was instrumental in taking the first wicket for his team as Naresh Bhatta was caught by wicketkeeper Prajwal Thapa in his strike in the fifth ov...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - Sudur Paschim Province defeated Bagmati Province by eight wickets in the U-19 National Cricket Tournament on Friday to secure a place in the final. The easy win ensured that they finish second in the league round to meet Lumbini Province in the final. Sudur Paschim met an easy target of 96 runs by losing two wickets in 23.1 overs. Naresh Bhatta of Sudur Paschim was unbeaten with 37 runs off 58 balls that included six fours. Similarly, Rahul Bhandari was also not out on 31 runs from 39 balls. He scored five boundaries altogether. Sudur Paschim’s opener Khadak Bohora was out for LBW by fast bowler Gautam KC with just five runs in his name. Another batsman Basanta Karki was caught out by Pratish GC on 11 runs. Earlier, Bagmati Province who were in...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - The buildup to the final of the U-19 National Cricket Tournament has become interesting following a one-wicket defeat of Province 1 by Gandaki Province in the league round on Thursday. With the victory of Gandaki Province, three teams have mathematical chances of entering the final. During Thursday’s match held at TU Cricket Ground, Gandaki Province met the target of 134 runs in 38 overs losing nine wickets. Arjun Kumal of Gandaki contributed 35 runs off 70 balls that included six boundaries for the team. It was Kiran Poudel and Sudeep Aryal who ensured Gandaki’s victory with an unbeaten 20-run partnership for the last wicket. Kiran scored 12 runs off 24 balls while Sudeep was not out on 2 runs off 19 balls. Gandaki was struggling at 97/3 wh...

By a Staff Reporter Kathmandu - Fast bowler Prakash Jaisi’s eight-wicket haul against Province 2 during the U-19 National Cricket Tournament helped Karnali Province restore their pride and end the tournament on a happy note as they registered a two-wicket victory in the final match of league round. Earlier, Karnali Province had registered a wide-margin victory of 140 runs against Lumbini Province in their opening match but were confined to the bottom of the standings with four successive defeats. Thursday’s victory ensured that Karnali Province finishes the league round in sixth position while it has also effectively ended the hopes of Province 2 of making it to the final. During the match held at Mulpani Cricket Ground on Thursday, Province 2 won the toss and opted to bat first...