KATHMANDU, May 22: It took four days for Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) to assemble all the 24 youth players called for the closed camp training for the upcoming U-19 Asia Cup to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from June 23 to July 1.
CAN and the Nepali U-19 team are facing a tough time in training due to the ongoing banda called by various organizations.
Team coach Pubudu Dassanayake, who lives in Baluwatar, and player Prithu Baskota reach the TU Cricket Ground in Kirtipur before 5 am due to the banda.
On the other hand, CAN has arranged rooms for the rest of the players at a guest house at the university gate.
"As the tournament is approaching fast, we could not consider postponing the training. Players are staying in the guest house even though it is not suitable for them," said Prithu Baskota.
"It took four days to have all the players at the training. Bhuwan Karki arrived in Kathmandu only today (Tuesday) from far-west. The bandas affected the first four days of our training," he added.
CAN executive committee member Kiran Rana said the association has been providing breakfast, lunch and dinner to the players at the TU Ground.
"We are keenly watching the political developments. If the situation improves, we´ll make proper arrangements for the players," said Rana. "The training started in full phase from today (Tuesday) as all the 24 players joined the camp," he added.
The cricketers in the closed camp played a practice match on Tuesday. Team ´Blue´ led by Prithu Baskota won the practice match against Team ´Red´ led by Rahul BK by five wickets.
Team ´Red´ elected to bat first and was all out for 149 runs in 38.5 overs. Pradeep Airee scored 40 runs off 43 balls while Naresh Budhayer added 24 runs off 46 balls. Team ´Blue´ gave away 21 runs as extras. Rupesh Shrivastav took three wickets and Sagar Pun claimed two wickets.
Chasing the low total, Team ´Blue´ reached 155/5 in 31.4 overs. Team ´Blue´ lost openers Hasim Ansari (7) and Sagar Pun (4) cheaply but Fazlur Rehman and Prithu Baskota anchored the innings. Rehman scored 28 runs while Baskota remained unbeaten on 42 runs off 71 balls. Team ´Red´ gave away 34 runs as extras. Rahul BK and Avinash Karn took two wickets each.
CAN had called up all the 14 members of the Nepali U-19 team qualified for the ICC U-19 World Cup, while 10 other players were selected on the basis of their performance in the recently concluded Wai Wai U-19 National Cricket Tournament.