The Nepali cricket team will go to the UAE on Friday to play a three-match Twenty20 series against the West Indies. Nepal is going to play West Indies for the first time in Twenty20.

Nepal is playing a Twenty20 series for the first time against Purna Rashtra. In addition, West Indies have won the Twenty20 World Cup twice.

After playing against the West Indies in Sharjah on September 27, 29 and 30, the Nepali team will go to Oman to compete in the Asia-Pacific qualifiers for the Twenty20 World Cup. Therefore, Nepal has taken it as a preparation for the Twenty-20 World Cup Asia-Pacific qualifiers.

Last April, the West Indies 'A' team visited Nepal and won the 5-match series by 3-2. Captain Rohit Paudel also scored a century in one match. "The last time we played against West Indies 'A', we lost 3-2. We all have that motivation. This time we will play to win the series. In the last two years, we have played many Test nations. This time also we are confident that we will do well," said captain Rohit.  

'West Indies is a very good team. Good players are coming to play with Nepal. It also gives us good exposure. "Playing this kind of match before the World Cup qualifiers will help our preparation a lot," he continued, "but we all have confidence that we can beat the West Indies."

Nepal has already announced a 16-member team including Adil Alam Ansari and Sandeep Zora. Spinner Lalit Rajvanshi, who missed the Australia tour, has also returned to the team. Head coach Stuart Law was there after the tour of Australia. He is scheduled to reach Sharjah from there. In his absence, coach Gyanendra Malla trained the Nepalese team.

Recently, the Nepalese team did not get their visas until Thursday night after the UAE stopped visas for Nepal. The flight schedule of the Nepalese team is on Friday morning.

Extensive changes in West Indies team

West Indies have made extensive changes in the team to play against Nepal. Regular captain Sai Hope and coach Darren Sammy will not be in the West Indies squad for the series against Nepal. Devrehate spinner Akeel Hussain will captain the 15-member West Indies, which has five 'uncapped' players.

Ryan Griffith is the coach of West Indies. Former West Indies coach Otis Gibson will remain as the team's fast bowling consultant. Top-order batsman Akeem Auguste, batting all-rounder Naveen Bidaisi, leg-spinner Jeeson Motara, Devrehate fast bowler Ramon Simmonds and wicket-keeper batsman Amir Jangu are likely to make their 'debut' against Nepal.

Karima Gore, who has already played 8 Twenty20 internationals for America, has not played for West Indies. In the Caribbean Premier League, he made a good impact playing for Antigua and Bermuda. In Sokram, he scored 219 runs in 11 matches.

Along with Hussain, the West Indies team also has experienced players like Fabian Allen, Jason Holder, Kyle Meyers. Despite playing 2 Tests and 5 ODIs on the tour of India from October 2, West Indies have rested some key players.