Kathmandu. Nepal is set to face off against the United Arab Emirates in the first game of the T20I series today. The match will kick off at 5 PM at the TU Ground in Kirtipur, marking a historic moment as Nepal plays its first international match under floodlights on home soil after a gap of two years.
Dipendra Singh Airee will lead the Nepalese team in the absence of regular captain Rohit Paudel, who is unavailable for today's match and hasn't been included in the squad. Airee faces the challenge of starting the series on a winning note.
Nepal and the UAE are familiar rivals in the T20I format, having played 11 matches against each other. Nepal has won six of those encounters, while the UAE has emerged victorious five times. Interestingly, in the only T20I played between the two teams at the Kirtipur ground, the UAE came out on top.
The Nepalese squad for today's match includes Dipendra Singh Airee (Captain), Kushal Bhurtel, Kushal Malla, Sandeep Jora, Arif Sheikh, Bashir Ahmad, Gulsan Jha, Lokesh Bam, Sandeep Lamichhane, Nandan Yadav, Santos Yadav, Arjun Saud, Hemant Dhami, Sahab Alam, and Sher Malla.