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.
All the teams need to arrive in the UAE by December 20 ahead of the tournament. The teams will stay in quarantine until December 21 and play practice match the next day. Nepal will face Bangladesh in its first match on December 23. The next match is against Sri Lanka on December 26 followed by a group-stage match against Kuwait on December 28. The top two teams will make it to the semifinals.
The final will be held at the Dubai International Stadium on January 1. However, the ACC has not unveiled the fixtures and announced the groups officially.
Nepal has already announced a preliminary squad of 20 players for the tournament. The final squad will be announced after one week of closed-camp training.
