Assam to play five match ODI series against Namibia

The Assam Cricket Association embark on a historic cricketing adventure later this month. In a first, the Assam Cricket Association is all set to tour Namibia for a five-match one-day series starting from June 21. It will be the first meeting between the two sides. The series will commence on June 21 and end on June 29. All matches will be held at the FNB Cricket Ground in Windhoek. This series will feature some promising cricketing talents from both teams. 

Assam will be led by Rajasthan Royals (RR) icon and current Indian cricketer Riyan Parag, and the Namibian team will be led by Gerhard Erasmus. The Assam players, apart from Riyan Parag, have plenty of experience in the domestic circuit, but very few have had the chance of competing against foreign talent. As for Namibia, they will play with a full-strength squad, all of whom have represented the national side in numerous ICC events. 

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Full schedule of the one-day series

With powerful all-rounders like JJ Smit and Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, this Namibian side will be no cakewalk for the touring Assamese side. However, the Assamese side is certainly not short on talent. Their prime players include consistent domestic performers such as Denish Das, Akash Sengupta, and Parvej Musaraf, all of whom are ready to support their high-profile skipper.

Prior to this series, Namibia also hosted Punjab and Karnataka for a five-match series. Namibia hardly had any success against Punjab, losing the series 4-1. However, they offered a tough fight against Karnataka but sadly, went on to lose the closely contested series by 3-2. This upcoming historic series will serve as a great learning curve for both teams to experience the unknowns. The Namibian players will get a taste of what it is like to play against full member nations. On the other hand, the domestic FC-cricketers hailing from Assam have the opportunity to gain some international cricketing exposure, which will, in turn, help them enhance their capabilities further.

Squads for the one-day series

Assam

Riyan Parag (c), Denish Das, Pradyun Saikia, Rahul Hazarika, Rishav Das, Sibsankar Roy, Subham Mandal, Akash Sengupta, Amlanjyoti Das, Kunal Sarma, Mrinmoy Dutta, Parvej Musaraf, Swarupam Purkayastha, Abhishek Thakuri, Anurag Talukdar, Ruhinandan Pegu, Sumit Ghadigaonkar, Avinov Choudhury, Bhargav Dutta, Darshan Rajbongshi, Dipjyoti Saikia, Mukhtar Hussain, Rahul Singh, Sidharth Sarmah

Namibia

Gerhard Erasmus (c), Jan Frylinck, Malan Kruger, Nikolaas Davin, Dylan Leicher, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, JJ Smit, JP Kotze, Lohan Louwrens, Zane Green, Ben Shikongo, Bernard Scholtz, Handre Klazinge, Jack Brassell, Jan-Izak de Villiers, Ruben Trumpelmann, Tangeni Lungameni