A calm composed top-order batsman, Aarif Sheikh is a professional Nepalese cricketer who gradually made progress through the age-group cricket playing for Nepal’s U-19 setup as well. After making his List A debut against Namibia in January 2015, Aarif was first capped at the international stage against the Netherlands in a T20I fixture on July 29th, 2018. The youngster didn’t get an opportunity to showcase his skills as the match ended in a no-result. His arrival at the top level got from bad to worse when he was dismissed on a duck just three days later on his ODI debut against the same opponents. A year after his international debut, Aarif made his first-class debut in November 2019 and started churning runs at the domestic circuit. He caught the selector’s eye and was named in the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup, the same month. The 23-year old was eventually awarded a central contract by the Nepal Cricket Association in September 2020 and he hasn’t looked back since, cementing a spot in Nepal’s limited-overs side. (As of September 2021)
