Khadka to captain Nepal in ACC Twenty20 Cup

Allrounder Paras Khadka will be leading Nepal in the Asian Cricket Council Twenty20 Cup to be held in the UAE from November 22-30. In a move, which had been widely anticipated, the 22-year-old replaced Binod Das as captain, ending the latter's four-year tenure.

Khadka, who bats in the middle order and bowls medium pace, was elevated to Nepal's senior team in 2004 after playing a key role in the Under-19 team's successes in the World Cups. He has played 30 international matches for the senior team, scoring 630 runs at 30 and has taken 27 wickets at 16.44.

Nepal's successes at the Under-19 level and the promise of emerging talent led to expectations from the senior team led by Das. However, they were not met, as Nepal lost the semi-finals of several major tournaments last year, including the World Cricket League Division 5 in Jersey and the ACC Trophy in Malaysia.

The team is currently in Delhi playing local selections and they will then depart for the UAE on November 20. Nepal's first match of the tournament is against Malaysia on November 22. They have been placed in Group B - arguably the weaker of the two groups - which also includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman. Group A features Afghanistan, who came fifth at the World Cup Qualifiers this year, reigning ACC Trophy Elite champions Hong Kong, Elite finalists, UAE, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and China.

Nepal will again be coached by former Sri Lanka batsman, Roy Dias.

Squad: Paras Khadka (capt), Binod Das, Dipendra Chaudhary, Paresh Lohani, Sharad Vesawkar, Gyanendra Malla, Shakti Gauchan, Basant Regmi, Amrit Bhattarai, Binod Bhandari, Mahaboob Alam, Naresh Bahadur Budhaayer, Mahesh Kumar Chhetri, Sanjam Regmi; Roy Dias (coach), Manjur Alam Khan (team official), Naresh Kumar Shrestha (manager).