Nepali Rhinos Club is all set to take part in Emerald Cup starting from 1st of September at Seattle Marymoor Park. Winner will be awarded with 15,000 USD and runner-up will get 3,000 USD. Eight teams will be participating with four teams in two groups each. There will be three round robin games in league phase.
Best Batsman, Best Bowler and Best Fielder will get 500 USD each whereas Most Valuable Player and Player of Final will get 750 USD each.
There will be no current national player from Nepal but Nepali Rhinos will have the like of Rusty Theron who was an important part of Team when they won 2X Cricket Cup in November last year.
Rusty Theron is former South Africa national player he also played for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.
IPL Player Sunny Sohal will be joining Nepali Rhinos. Sunny Sohal was part of Deccan Chargers, India Under-19s, Kings XI Punjab, Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore team.
Nepali Rhinos will be having other foreign players like: Rusty Theron(SA), Najaf Shah (Former Pakistani bowler),Mohammad Farrukh (Pakistan first class player) and Sunny Sohal (IPL Player/Punjab Ranji Team Player)
Nepali Rhinos Cricket Club was established with a mission to promote Cricket in United States and Nepal and this time the club has moved a step forward with their mission as for this tournament the team has given chance to two U-19 players Of United States Keshav Pabbisetty and Kartik S. Gattepalli. The team has also added some young prospect as they will be having: Kiran Shrestha (allrounder), Diwas Baral (bowler), Suren BC (Bolwler), Sanjay Karki (Allrounder), Dilip Thapa (WK/Batsman), Anuj Shrestha ,Prayash Pandit (Both Bowlers)and Bigyan Pandey (allrounder). All These given players has played age level, school level, inter college and district level in Nepal with some of the current national players.
Re Union of Former National Players:
Bardan Chalise and Kanishka Chaugai will be playing together from Nepali Rhinos in this tournament.
Kanishka Chaugai had captained Nepal Under-19s in the 2006 Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka, leading the team to Plate Championship final where they beat New Zealand. Kanishka Chaugai had won the man of the match award in the plate semi-final where Nepal beat South Africa by 2 runs.
Bardan Chalise was the Vice-Captain for the Nepal U-19 team at the age of 18, where he and his team played against countries like Maldives, Singapore, UAE, and Malaysia. During his captaincy, Nepal won the ACC trophy and was qualified for the International Cricket Council (ICC) U-19 World Cup trophy held in New Zealand in 2002.
Kanishka Chaugai and Bardan Chalise both were part of the U-19 team when Nepal was Runner up of Plate Championship 2002.
Team of Nepali Rhinos for Emerald Cup 2017:
1.Rusty Theron(SA),
2.Najaf Shah (Former Pakistani bowler),
3.Mohammad Farrukh (Pakistan first class player).
4.Keshav Pabbisetty ( USA U-19 Player)
5.Kartik S. Gattepalli ( USA U-19 Player)
6.Kiran Shrestha
7.Diwas Baral
8.Suren BC
9.Sanjay Karki
10.Dilip Thapa
11.Anuj Shrestha
12.Prayash Pandit
13.Bigyan Pandey
14.Sagar Pant
15. Rakesh Karn
16.Ashik Lama
17.Bardan Chalise ( C )
18.Kanishka Chaugai
19.Sunny Sohal (IPL Player/Punjab Ranji Player)
20.Utsav Sigdel ( Team Manager)