The national cricket team began a closed camp training session on Wednesday in Kathmandu as part of preparations for the ACC Emerging Teams Cup.Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has called up 22 players to the first round of the closed camp for the tournament to be held in Singapore from August 17 to 25. 

According to skipper Paras Khadka, all the players, except five players attending foreign exposure programs, attended the first day of the closed camp. Among the selected players, Naresh Budhayer is training at the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in England while Pradeep Airee and Anil Mandal are playing the U-23 Inter-club League in Sri Lanka. Gyanendra Malla and Basant Regmi are playing professional cricket in Canada.

"Due to the weather and unavailability of indoor facilities, we only had a gym and fitness session today [Wednesday]," said Khadka.
National team coach Pubudu Dassanayake, who is on vacation in Canada, is scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu in the third week of July. Nepali coach Jagat Tamata will take charge of the team until then.

"We can not do much in such a rainy condition and so I have planned to conduct fitness sessions and some fielding sessions. Depending on the weather condition of a particular day, we can plan some net session also," said Tamata, who arrived in Kathmandu on Wednesday after conducting an O-level coaching course in Janakpur.

According to CAN Secretary Uttam Karmacharya, the association is planning to send the national team to Sri Lanka on August 1 for training and practice matches before the Emerging Teams Cup. "We´ll officially announce the tour soon. Our president and general secretary are yet to return from the ICC general assembly. We´ll finalize everything as soon as they return," said Karmacharya. "The final selection will be made before the team flies to Sri Lanka," he added.

Nepal has been drawn along with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan in Group A of the new 50-over format tournament introduced by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). Similarly, Group B consists of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. Test nations India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will field their U-23 teams in the tournament.