To celebrate the National Day of Qatar on 18th December, the Qatar Olympic Committee and the Qatar Cricket Association have organized a Nations Cup tournament to be played on 25tb December for the cricket-loving Asian Community in Qatar. The four teams that will contest in the tournament are India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The population of these four countries account for more than a million in the total population of 2.5 million in Qatar and of this Sri Lankans account for almost 150,000.
The Sri Lankan Cricket Team in Qatar comprises many former school and club cricketers from Sri Lanka who now live and work in Qatar. The 18 member squad was selected from among 30 Sri Lankan cricketers in Qatar. As a team they have been practicing for about a month in preparation for the tournament.
The Sri Lankan squad for the Nations Cup in Qatar comprised of Rizlan Iqbar (Captain) , Gayan Buddika , Andri Berenger, Kalith Amarasinghe, Imal Liyanage, Sandun Chamara Withanage ,Yasindu Prabashwara, Jeewaka Samarakoon, Rajeewa Nirmal, Shaheen Sabri, Zayan Ismath, Imran Yaseen , Mohamed Nayeem, Assad Borham, Imraz Rafi, Mohamad Munshif , Moshin Khan Murshid , Romelo Kumarage, Head Coach - Saman Fonseka , Assistant Coach -
Lahiru Chathuranga ,Team Manager - Tharik Mansour.
The tournament will be a T10 tournament which is intended to create a lot of excitement among the Asian community as this is the closest they get to an Asian cup.
Speaking on the upcoming tournament exclusively to the Daily News, Head Coach Saman Fonseka said “As a cricket loving Sri Lankan community we are excited to play in this tournament. Living away from our own country, this gives us an opportunity to raise the Sri Lankan flag in Qatar. We expect a good tournament and we are confident that we can win it as we have a well-balanced team. All our team members play in the Qatar domestic premier
league and also many represent Qatar National Team as well. We have included three talented young Sri Lankans who are Qatar U19 players as well into the squad. This is mainly to give them an opportunity to contribute and mostly to learn from the seniors”.
Mean while Sri Lankan team captain Rizlan Iqbar told Daily News “We are eagerly looking forward to the tournament. This is our time to showcase Sri Lankan talents in Qatar and also to bring pride to our motherland”.
Rizlan is also the Vice Captain of the Qatar national team thus bringing a lot of experience to the Sri Lankan squad. The Sri Lankan Team in Qatar last won the Nations Cup tournament in 2016,
under the captaincy of the current team Coach Saman Fonseka. They are looking forward to win it again this year with a new team that is full of potential.
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