Asia Cup 2023: Sandeep Lamichhane, Rohit Paudel and Aasif Sheikh —Nepal's top three performers in ODIs

Nepal cricket team recently made their maiden major tournament debut, when they faced Pakistan in the Asia Cup opener on 30 August.

Nepal, led by captain Rohit Paudel, are still new to major tournaments, having not made it past the first round in the 2014 T20 World Cup.

Also read: Nepal’s ODI journey in numbers — Top run-scorer, wicket-taker, highest total and more

Having said that, Nepal have so far never qualified for the men’s ODI Cricket World Cup, but they still have talented players in their ranks.

Ahead of Nepal’s next Asia Cup group match against India on Monday, we take a look at their top three performers in ODIs so far:

Sandeep Lamichhane

With 112 wickets from 50 ODIs, Sandeep Lamichhane is currently Nepal’s best bowler in the 50-over format.

Lamichhane, 23, only made his ODI debut just five years back, against Netherlands in Amstelveen, where he finished with figures of 1/42.

Since then, Lamichhane has gone onto become Nepal’s most prolific pacer, taking wickets at will while hurting the opposition’s momentum at crucial junctures.

Rohit Paudel

Nepal have produced some young, exciting talents and skipper Rohit Paudel is one of them.

Like Lamichhane, Rohit Paudel may not be a household name but has made a name for himself, scoring 1469 runs from 53 ODIs.

His highest score of 126 against Papua New Guinea is the highest by a Nepal batter in ODIs.

When he made his ODI debut against Netherlands in 2018, Rohit had become the fourth-youngest player to make his ODI debut at 15 years and 335 days.

Aasif Sheikh

Aasif Sheikh is Nepal’s next best batter. With 1192 runs from 42 matches, he is the second highest run-getter for Nepal in ODIs, only behind Rohit Paudel.

Aasif, 21, has one century and nine fifties to his name, with the lone century coming against PNG in a Cricket World Cup League 2 match earlier this year. He scored run-a-ball 110, to help Nepal beat PNG by 52 runs.