Aasif Sheikh (; born 22 June 2001) is a Nepalese

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who plays as a right-handed

wicket-keeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the Cricket player, player on the fielding (cricket), fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop Delivery (cricket), deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a Caught, catch, Stumped, stump the ...

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

. He made his debut for

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

against

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in a Twenty20 International in April 2021. He is renowned for his classical batting style. He has the most

ODI cricket One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four year ...

half-centuries for Nepal, with 13. He represents the Armed Police Force Club of the Prime minister domestic cup and Pokhara Paltan of the Pokhara Premier League.

Early domestic career and U-19

Sheikh plays for Panchakanya Tej in the

Everest Premier League Everest Premier League (EPL) () was a franchise Twenty20 cricket tournament organized by EPL Pvt. Ltd., a private group in Nepal. It was the biggest cricket tournament in the country, played during the northern winter calendar, mostly in the ...

. He scored an unbeaten 111 runs in the final of the 2016 Everest Premier League, helping his team to win the maiden EPL title. He was the leading run-scorer of the tournament, where he scored 202 runs in six matches at an average of 44.00. He led the Nepalese Under-19 team in the 2018 Quadrangular Cricket Tournament in India. Later, he was named the skipper 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 the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). Nepal is an associate member of International Cricket Council (ICC). Nepal has historically ...

for the

2018 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup The 2018 Under-19 Asia Cup was the 7th edition of ACC Under-19 Cup. The cricket tournament was held in Bangladesh from 29 September to 7 October at Chittagong and Cox's Bazar Cox's Bazar (; ; ) is a city, fishing port, tourism centre, an ...

. He also played for the Under-19 side in the

2019 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup The 2019 Under-19 Asia Cup was the 8th edition of ACC Under-19 Cup. The cricket tournament was held in Sri Lanka from 5 to 15 September 2019. 8 teams participated in the tournament, including 5 full members and three qualifiers. Teams Squad ...

International career

After being the second highest scorer of the tournament in the

2021 Prime Minister Cup The 2021 Prime Minister Cup was the fourth edition of the Prime Minister One Day Cup, the premier One-Day cricket, one-day cricket tournament in Nepal. The tournament was contested by teams representing the seven Provinces of Nepal as well as t ...

, where he scored 206 runs in five innings at an average of 41.20, he was selected in the 18-member national team for the closed camps for the T20I series against

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. However, the tour was eventually postponed due to the increasing COVID-19 cases in

. Sheikh was subsequently selected in the 15-member national squad for the

2020–21 Nepal Tri-Nation Series The 2020–21 Nepal Tri-Nation Series was a Twenty20 international cricket tournament that took place in April 2021 in Nepal. The participating teams were Nepal, Malaysia and the Netherlands. The matches were all played at the Tribhuvan Universit ...

and made his T20I debut against

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He scored an unbeaten half-century and put up a record first-wicket partnership of 116 runs for Nepal in T20Is guiding his team to a 9-wicket victory. He scored 42 runs in the second match of the series against

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and shared another century stand with a fellow opener

Kushal Bhurtel Kushal Bhurtel (, born 22 January 1997) is a Nepalese cricketer. He made his T20I debut against the Netherlands on 17 April 2021 and his ODI debut against Papua New Guinea on 7 September 2021. In November 2019, he was named in Nepal's squad f ...

. He scored 154 runs in the series at an average of 38.50 and a strike-rate of 138.73. In August 2021, Sheikh was named in Nepal's

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) squad for their series against Papua New Guinea in Oman, and their squad for round six of the 2019–2023 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 tournament, also in Oman. He made his ODI debut on 7 September 2021, for Nepal against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. In March 2023, Sheikh scored his first century in ODIs during a match against Papua New Guinea. In May 2024, he was named in Nepal's squad for the

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major ICC tournament to include matches played in the United ...

tournament.

Records and milestones

ODI * Member of an honorary club to score 200 runs and take 10 wicket-keeping dismissals in a series * 8th most runs in a series by a wicket-keeper - 685 runs

Honours

He was named as the recipient of the 2022 ICC Spirit of Cricket Award at the

2022 ICC Awards The 2022 ICC Awards were the eighteenth edition of ICC Awards. The nominations took into account players' performance between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2022. Winners and nominees The shortlists of the nominations for individual award cate ...

in recognition of his act on his decision not to runout Irish player

Andy McBrine Andrew Robert McBrine (born 30 April 1993) is an Irish cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman who bowls right-arm off spin. McBrine is the son of Alexander McBrine and the nephew of James McBrine, both of whom also played cricket for Ireland. ...

during a T20I fixture in February 2022 between Ireland and Nepal which was played as a part of the Quadrangular series held in Oman. Mcbrine collided with the bowler and fell down halfway up the pitch. Sheikh allowed Mcbrine to complete the run, and subsequently became the first player from Nepal to win the ICC's Spirit of Cricket Award.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheikh, Aasif Living people 2001 births Nepalese cricketers Nepal One Day International cricketers Nepal Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Nepalese sportsmen People from Birgunj Cricketers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Nepal Nepalese Sunni Muslims