Nepal announce men's cricket squad for Asian Games

Nepal crashed out of the Asia Cup 2023 after facing defeats at the hands of Pakistan and India recently.

After a historic Asia Cup 2023 debut in August, Nepal are on their way for another assignment in China. Nepal have announced their 15-members squad for the upcoming Asian Games in China. Cricket will be played at Asian Games for the third time in history. The game was introduced at the big Asian Sports Exhibition for the first time in 2010 and then continued in 2014. But in 2018, cricket was excluded from Asian Games event held in Jakarta. Nepal have made two changes to their squad which participated in the Asia Cup 2023.

Nepal make two changes in the squad

Captain Rohit Paudel will be leading the charge for the Nepal team in the event. They have dropped off-spinner Mousam Dhakal and pace bowler Kishor Mahato from their previous squad that travelled to Pakistan and Sri Lanka for Asia Cup 2023. Nepal have replaced these names with two all-rounders, Bibek Kumar Yadav and Abinash Bohara, in the 15-members squad. Nepal have retained the rest of the squad for Asian Games event. Nepal have kept the squad balanced between young and experienced players.

Nepal are part of group A, along with Mongolia and the Maldives. Nepal will begin their Asian Games campaign against Mongolia on the 27th of September, and then their final group game will be held against Maldives on the 1st of October. Nepal are expected to qualify for the next round as the other teams in the group are relatively inexperienced compared to Nepal. Their Asia Cup 2023 exposure is also going to help in Asian Games campaign.

Nepal had a great Asia Cup 2023 experience as they challenged both Asian Giants, India and Pakistan, in league round games. Nepal did well with the ball against Pakistan, and they put Pakistan under pressure with early 4 wickets inside 120 runs. Then, against India, Nepal's batters showed grit against a quality Indian pace bowling line-up and went on to score 230 runs in the first innings. Nepal got defeated in both games, but they impressed everyone with their show in their major event debut.