Year 2005 will go into the history book of Nepali cricket as a successful year. Despite the year started with two heart-breaking news they just proved ghosts of 2004, an unsuccessful year, and as the year proceeded it brought glorious moments.
The last string of hope for qualifying to the ICC Trophy 2005 to keep alive chances of qualifying to the World Cup 2007 went cold when Nepal lost to Fiji by 3 runs in the semifinal of the World Cup Qualifying Series Division II in Malaysia. This was in February.
Same month, The Kathmandu Post broke the news that Nepal won’t be participating in the upcoming Asia Cup as stated earlier. It was a failure for CAN and specially president Jai Kumar Nath Shah, who as the vice-president of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) signed the decision back in 2005 and kept all in dark about it. He tried to justify this signing by stating in a press release that ‘he was not in the best of his health’.
It was loss for cricket, cricketers and fans. It looked like it didn’t do much damage now after the event has been postponed indefinitely. Probably, there will be new ACC Trophy finalists for the next Asia Cup. The pain of being robbed of the chance of playing against India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh pinned the hearts of all throughout the successful year.
“You can’t ask more from a coach and cricketers,” coach Roy Dias said after Nepal’s victory in the ACC U-19 Trophy. “But sadly we are not playing in the Asia Cup.” Even in the moments of the joy, the heart ached.
Winning U-19 title for the third time and qualifying for the Youth World Cup for the fourth time was a perfect ending of the year. Nepali boys performed exceptionally well to prove, as cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar put on, the King of Asia in junior level.
Gavaskar was the one of many cricketing supreme people to visit Nepal in 2005. The list includes Ehsan Mani, the ICC Chief, and Malcolm Speed, the ICC CEO. They were both here for the ICC Development Committee meeting which decided the new format of the ICC InterContinental Cup.
Probably because the meeting was held in Nepal just after Nepal’s U-19 victory in front of impressive 20,000 spectators, ICC decided to give Nepal a chance for the play-off for the event (we would like to call it second-tier Test). Nepal will meet Namibia for the important play-off in 2006.
Nepal defeated United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Asian non-Test powerhouse, in the ICC InterContinental Cup tie by 172 runs. It was the first victory of Nepal over UAE and that is probably the indication of the days to come. Nepal also defeated Malaysia but rain-hit match against Hong Kong left it second behind UAE in the ACC Fast Track Nations table.
In April, Nepal won the ACC U-15 Cup in UAE. Nepal was undefeated and proved too strong with two 6 wickets victory, one 10 wicket win, one 9 wicket win and the other 140-run win.
In August, despite fielding a relatively inexperienced U-17 team in Malaysia, Nepal was on its way to final of the ACC U-17 Cup before the event was cancelled due to smog. Nepal was playing semifinal with Kuwait and was 132/2 when the tournament was called off.
November was a big month for Nepal as Cricket Association of Nepal not only successfully hosted the U-19 event but also the team won the trophy and fans flooded in the TU Ground to impress the world.
2006: A Year with Promises
Which match do you think is the most important match for Nepal in 2006? Obviously the three-day match against Namibia at their home turf. A win, even by points, will put Nepal in the league of 8 such nations that would be considered the best after the top 10.
They will play four-day matches extensively and that will help in their growth. Since there is no system of going into it till the date, it would go for at least next three years and it would be really difficult to catch the teams in ICC InterContinental Cup after that.
Besides, Nepal is also participating in the Youth World Cup in Sri Lanka. Every YWC is a amazingly good for Nepal and hopes for good performance this year is putting smiles on fans’ faces.
ACC Trophy will be held in 2006. The hosting competitors are Nepal and Malaysia. If Nepal gets it, it would be a treat to Nepali fans. Even if not or yes, Nepal’s qualification to the final will guarantee a place in Asia Cup (If it’s held).
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