Kathmandu - Nepal have announced a 15-member squad for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 series in the Netherlands, with Rohit Paudel leading the side and Dipendra Singh Airee named vice-captain.
The tour carries major weight for Nepal's 2027 World Cup qualification campaign. Nepal are currently fifth in the League 2 standings with 24 points from 28 matches, behind Oman, who occupy fourth place with 31 points from the same number of matches. The Netherlands are third with 32 points from 28 games.
The top four teams in League 2 will qualify directly for the 2027 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, while the bottom four will have to go through the Qualifier Play-off route.
Nepal's recent home run has kept them alive in the race. After a slow start to the cycle, Nepal collected six wins from eight home matches across the recent League 2 windows, beating UAE and USA 2-0 while sharing series 1-1 against Oman and Scotland. That revival has reduced the gap, but Nepal now need away points to stay in the fight.
In the Netherlands, Nepal will face hosts Netherlands and Namibia. With eight matches still remaining in their League 2 cycle, the series gives Nepal a direct chance to close the gap on the top-four places before their final assignments later in the year.
Nepal squad: Rohit Paudel (c), Dipendra Singh Airee (vc), Sandeep Lamichhane, Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh, Ishan Pandey, Aarif Sheikh, Gulshan Jha, Karan KC, Sompal Kami, Nandan Yadav, Lalit Rajbanshi, Bhim Sharki, Arjun Kumal, Binod Bhandari.
Reserves: Sundeep Jora, Shahab Alam, Hemant Dhami, Aakash Chand, Yuvraj Khatri.
