There is always a sense of intrigue surrounding Associate teams going into an ICC World Cup. In fact, any upset caused by an Associate nation usually turns out to be the heartening story of a World Cup. The United States of America, the Netherlands, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, Oman, Scotland, Canada and Namibia are the associate teams partaking in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup to be held in the West Indies and the United States of America.
One of the teams to look out for is Nepal. The Asian country’s recent form in the shortest format has been mixed, having won three out of their last nine games. The best part about the Nepal side is they have a battery of all-rounders. Even Karan KC, batting at No.10 can chip with the willow in hand. Nepal also have enough spinners in their ranks, led by Dipendra Airee, Lalit Rajbanshi and co. The bigger story is the Cricket Association of Nepal has submitted only 14 players to the ICC for the World Cup, leaving one slot open for the controversial star, Sandeep Lamichhanne.
The spinner was denied a visa by the United States of America’s Embassy in Nepal. Apparent reason for it is he had faced “charges of rape” and later got his name cleared. CAN, however, have not given up hope on picking the spinner for the mega event. “We are lobbying the embassy through the Nepal government”, Chatur Bahadur Chand, president of Cricket Association of Nepal, had said to AFP on Sunday.
Recently, the Patan High Court in Nepal has acquitted the spinner over rape charges as a result of lack of evidence. “Since the high court has cleared Sandeep Lamichhane from all the allegations, he is now cleared to play all forms of cricket,” a CAN spokesperson had said.
Nepal would hope to leave aside the controversy surrounding their spinner and concentrate on their Group, which also has Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South Africa and Netherlands. The last team mentioned, Netherlands, has shown enough pluck and determination in the recent past. Led by Scott Edwards, their lynchpin, Netherlands have enough all-rounders at their disposal — Bas de Leede and Logan van Beek.
With the likes of Tom Pringle, the left-arm spinner, Fred Klaassen, Vivian Kingma and Paul van Meekeren in their ranks, the Netherlands have some depth in the bowling department. Having said that, the Dutch set-up hasn’t picked a wrist spinner, with neither Saqib Zulfiqar nor googly specialist Shariz Ahmad finding a place.
One of the issues for the Dutch team is their openers, Vikramjit Singh and Max O’Dowd, aren’t exactly known for giving quick starts. The duo score their runs at a strike rate of just 110 and 121 respectively. Despite a few nuts and bolts missing from the squad, the Netherlands have the ability to usurp a fancied side or two. South Africa, who are also part of their group, will be a tad weary, having lost to them in the 50-over and T20 World Cups in 2023 and 2022.
Will Virat Kohli miss the warm-up? Did GG apply? || 5@5 LIVE https://t.co/gj3at98OXr
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) May 28, 2024