Aarif Sheikh ( ne, आरिफ शेख्) (born 5 October 1997) is a Nepalese

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er, who was the vice-captain of the

Nepal national under-19 cricket team The Nepal national under-19 cricket team represents Nepal in under-19 international cricket. It is governed by Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), which is an associate member of International Cricket Council (ICC). Nepal has historically been one ...

, and currently plays for the senior team.

All-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

Aarif is a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, th ...

and a right-arm

medium pace Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

bowler. He made his debut for

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

against

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

in May 2014. He represents the APF Club of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

and GoldenGate International College, which plays in the SPA Cup. He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Nepal's first ever

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

(ODI) match, against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, in August 2018. His younger brother, Aasif Sheikh, has played for the Nepal under-19 cricket team. Aarif has been known for guiding his younger brother as a mentor in their childhood. In the final of the

2016 Everest Premier League The 2016 Everest Premier League was the debut season of the Everest Premier League. It was supposed to be the second edition of the Nepal Premier League, abbreviated as NPL, and was scheduled to be held from 26 March to 4 April 2015 in Kirtipur. ...

, Aasif scored 111 * eventually helping his team Panchakanya Tej to win the title.

Career

Early career

Aarif first represented Nepal Under-19s in the 2014 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup in December 2013. He scored 25 runs against

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, 40 runs against

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

and 48 runs against

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

in the tournament. In the national one day tournament held in

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Provinces of Nepal, Province , subdivision_name1 ...

, he was named Player of the Tournament where he scored a total of 261 runs with an average of 52.20 and picked up 11 wickets. Following his impressive performances in the national tournament, he was selected in the national squad for the

2014 ACC Premier League The three-tier ACC Premier League tournament has evolved from the former two-tier ACC Trophy cricket competition. The 2014–15 season started with top tier tournament which was held in Malaysia in May. It gives Associate and Affiliate membe ...

. Playing his debut match for Nepal, he picked up 2 wickets against

where he also

bowled In cricket, the term bowled has several meanings. First, is the act of propelling the ball towards the wicket defended by a batsman. Second, it is a method of dismissing a batsman, by hitting the wicket with a ball delivered by the bowler. (T ...

the Hong Kong captain

Jamie Atkinson James John Atkinson (born August 1990) is an international cricketer who plays cricket for Hong Kong. He also captained the Hong Kong cricket team before stepping down in May 2015. A wicket-keeper, he has also represented Hong Kong at Under-19 ...

. He also picked up 2 wickets in the match against

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bord ...

. He went to India along with his teammate Karan KC in September 2014 for a 10-day training at Just Cricket Academy in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

before participating in the

2014 ICC World Cricket League Division Three The 2014 ICC World Cricket League Division Three was a cricket divisional tournament organised by International Cricket Council. It formed part of the ICC World Cricket League (WCL) and qualification for the 2019 World Cup. The top two teams in ...

tournament. He represented Nepal Under-19s in the 2014 ACC Under-19 Premier League, where he was the second leading run scorer. He scored 190 runs in 5 innings at an average of 38.00. He made

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

debut in 2015 ICC World Cricket League Division Two in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...

in January 2015.

2018-present

In January 2018, he was named in Nepal's squad for the

2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two was a cricket tournament that took place in February 2018 in Namibia. The United Arab Emirates won the tournament, after beating Nepal by 7 runs in the final. Canada and Namibia finished third and fourth ...

tournament. In July 2018, he was named in Nepal's squad for their

(ODI) series against the Netherlands. These were Nepal's first ODI matches since gaining ODI status during the

2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier The 2018 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament that took place during March 2018 in Zimbabwe. It formed the final part of the Cricket World Cup qualification process for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. The top two te ...

. He made his

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have ...

debut for Nepal in the 2018 MCC Tri-Nation Series against the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influenc ...

on 29 July 2018. He made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) on the same day, against the

. He made his ODI debut for Nepal against the

on 1 August 2018. In August 2018, he was named in Nepal's squad for the

2018 Asia Cup Qualifier The 2018 Asia Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament that was held in Malaysia from 29 August to 6 September 2018. The event served as the qualifier for the 2018 Asia Cup. The top two teams from the group stage met in the final, with the winner ...

tournament. In October 2018, he was named in Nepal's squad in the Eastern sub-region group for the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Asia Qualifier tournament. He made his first-class debut on 6 November 2019, for

against the

(MCC), during the MCC's tour of Nepal. Later the same month, he was named in Nepal's squads for the

2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup The 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup was the fourth edition of the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup held in Bangladesh between 14 and 23 November 2019. Eight teams participated in the tournament, including five under-23 age level teams of Test nations ...

in Bangladesh, and the men's cricket tournament at the

2019 South Asian Games The 2019 South Asian Games, officially the XIII South Asian Games, was a major multi-sport event which was originally slated to be held from 9 to 18 March 2019 in Kathmandu and Pokhara, Nepal. However, the dates were postponed and the event was ...

. The Nepal team won the bronze medal, after they beat the Maldives by five wickets in the third-place playoff match. In September 2020, he was one of eighteen cricketers to be awarded with a central contract by the

Cricket Association of Nepal Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) is the official Sport governing body, governing body of cricket in Nepal national cricket team, Nepal. It was suspended from 2016 to 13 October 2019 due to governmental interference. The International Cricke ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheikh, Aarif 1997 births Living people Nepalese cricketers Nepal One Day International cricketers Nepal Twenty20 International cricketers People from Birgunj South Asian Games bronze medalists for Nepal South Asian Games medalists in cricket