ICC shifts Under-19 World Cup 2016 Qualifier from Nepal to Malaysia

The five teams competing in the event are Ireland, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Uganda and USA.

The qualifiers for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Under-19 World Cup 2016 will be played in Malaysia. ICC announced this decision on Thursday. Initially this tournament was scheduled to take place in Nepal. But now that the ICC Under 19 World Cup Qualifier will be played in Kuwala Lampur, Malaysia from October 14 to 23. Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) lost the hosting rights for the tournament primarily due to the earthquake disaster and the continuous aftershocks which devastated the Himalayan nation earlier this year. ICC feels, at this moment, CAN doesn’t have sufficient infrastructure to host this tournament.

While announcing the new venue, ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said, “Due to the tragic events in Nepal in recent months, coupled with the infrastructure damage caused by the earthquakes and the ongoing relief operations, it has been decided that it would be better to relocate the tournament from Kathmandu.” He further said that this decision was made by following the discussion with CAN & Malaysia Cricket. The five teams competing in the event are Ireland, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Uganda and USA & winner of this tournament will play ICC U19 World Cup next year in Bangladesh.

(Sandipan Banerjee is a reporter at CricketCountry. Cricket has been the biggest passion for him since his childhood. So, when it came to choosing his career, he chose to turn his passion into his profession. Apart from cricket he likes mountain trekking, river rafting, and photography. His twitter handle is @im_sandipan)