Gyanendra Malla’s career in the blue and red of Nepal is on tenterhooks after he was left out of the team’s Cricket World Cup League 2 squad to travel to the USA.
Malla was left out of Nepal’s home T20s and One Day matches against a Zimbabwe A touring party, and the omission from the squad eager to secure an automatic spot at the Cricket World Cup Qualifier next year shows the top order batter is not in the plans of re-appointed coach Pubudu Dassanayake.
Nepal take on the USA and Oman in a tri-series from June 9, and are still just a third of the way into their 36-match League 2 campaign, sitting in sixth spot.
Malla’s omission also means that the team must appoint a new vice-captain to deputise Sandeep Lamichhane, with the leg-spinner taking over from the 31-year-old back in December.
The right-hander first appeared for the senior national team back in 2006 after an impressive showing at the ICC Under 19 World Cup earlier that year. He appeared in Nepal’s first official T20I in 2009 and their first official ODI in 2018 against the Netherlands, eventually taking the captaincy in 2019 after Paras Khadka’s retirement.
Malla has made three half-centuries in Nepal’s League 2 campaign thus far, though his 286 runs have come at an under-par average of 28.60. His plights have not been in solitude however, with Rohit Paudel (249 runs at 35.57) the only Nepali player averaging over 30 in the competition of those to play at least three matches.
