Nepal takes on Canada in opening match of its second WCL 2 tri-series

KATHMANDU: Nepal is kick-starting its second tri-series of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 with a match against Canada in Canada on Monday. The match will kick off at 7:45 pm at the King City Cricket Ground.

The tri-series also features Oman. Nepal will play against Canada on September 16 and 22, while it is scheduled to take on Oman on September 18 and 24. Canada and Oman are playing on September 20 and 26. All the matches will start at 7:45 pm.

The three teams will play a T20I series after the ODI series. Nepal will play its first T20I of the series against Canada on September 28. It will take on Oman on September 29, Canada on October 1, and again Oman on October 2.

Nepal is resuming its WCL 2 campaign after a home series in February, where it faced three losses and registered one win. The match against Canada will be Nepal’s first ODI match after its last match of the tri-series against the Netherlands on February 25, where it conceded an eight-wicket defeat.

Nepal underwent a two-week training program at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, India, to prepare for the series.

Nepal then left for Sri Lanka to participate in a three-match ODI series against the Sri Lanka Development Squad. While the first two matches were washed out, Nepal suffered a five-wicket defeat in the final match.

How are the teams faring?
The Netherlands is at the top of the eight-team WCL 2 table with 12 points from eight matches. Canada, which has already played two tri-series, is in third place with eight points from as many matches.

Oman has three points from four matches.

Nepal is seventh in the table with three points from four matches.

What’s next for Nepal?
After the Canada tri-series, Nepal will travel to the US for its third tri-series with the US and Scotland.

Nepal is scheduled to play against the US on October 27 and November 2, while it will take on Scotland on October 29 and November 4.

Squads

Nepal: Rohit Paudel (Captain), Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Anil Sah, Bhim Sharki, Aarif Sheikh, Kushal Malla, Dipendra Singh Airee, Arjun Saud, Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Gulshan Kumar Jha, Rijan Dhakal, Sandeep Lamichhane, Lalit Rajbanshi, Dev Khanal (traveling reserve).

Canada: Aaron Johnson, Akhil Patel, Dilpreet Bajwa, Dilon Heyliger, Gurbaj Singh, Harsh Thaker, Kaleem Sona, Kanwarpal Tathgur, Navneet Dhaliwal, Nicholas Kirton (Captain), Pargat Singh, Parveen Kumar, Saad Bin Zafar, Shreyas Movva

Oman: Hammad Mirza, Jatinder Singh, Kashyap Prajapati, Khalid Kail, Shoaib Khan, Aqib Ilyas (captain), Aryan Khan, Bukkapatnam Siddharth, Zeeshan Maqsood, Pratik Ahavale, Bilal Khan, Fayyaz Butt, Jay Odedra, Kaleemullah, Muzahir Raza, Samay Shrivastava