Kathmandu, March 16 -- Emerging cricketer Rohit Kumar Paudel was on Friday named the captain of the Nepali U-19 team, a position which he is likely to continue when Nepal launch their ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier Asia scheduled for April 10-20 in Malaysia.

Already a senior national team cricketer at the age of 15, Paudel, now 16, will lead the 18-member Nepali team in India as the junior side of the youngest One-Day International nation fine tune their preparations for the Qualifier. Paudel was already expected to lead the U-19 side replacing former captain Aasif Sheikh who led the youth team in two age-group tournaments.

Nepali U-19 head coach Binod Das, prior to the announcement of the final squad, defined why Paudel could be ...