Expectations and aims are higher than the mountains; yet the youth cricketers of the country are capable of winning hearts overcoming the challenges thrown by cricket-cultured nations in the Youth World Cup in Sri Lanka.
For the enthusiastic youths, the fourth successive Youth World Cup promises the forum to stun the world.
Believe it or not, for many including The Guardian of the UK, Nepal is a cricketing powerhouse at the level. For even more the mountainous country is a giant-killer; and for all of them, the tiny Asian nation has the team to watch.
When Nepal will step out against England, the mother-country of the game, on Monday, the players will be looking forward to a historic victory. In some corner of the heart, the English players would remember they could lose. This alone tells of the height of the achievement Nepali youths have claimed in the past three events.
‘We want to beat England’ was what every Nepali player was uttering before leaving for Sri Lanka; and that spirit was not built on wild expectations. Nepal has previously beaten big guns like Kenya (2000), Pakistan and Bangladesh (2002) and South Africa (2004) and never played like minnows. The weather supported Nepal’s progress to the super-league in 2000 but it was not anything like that in the latter editions.
“Nepal has always played like a champion team in the Youth World Cup,” Captain Kanishka Chaugai said. “And, we want to continue the legacy.” He has every chance since he leads one of the most experienced sides in the event with a few regulars of the senior national team.
He himself is a successful batsman and has natural stroke-players in Sharad Vesawkar and Gyanendra Malla and hard-workers like Paras Khadka and Mahesh Chhetri. All of these have played at least once for the national team. The team has already won two practice matches convincingly and that would boost the morale of the players for sure.
It is also a wonderful opportunity for the players to pay back coach Roy Dias. The inspirational Sri Lankan has been dedicated to Nepali cricket for the last five years. He has recovered his pride wounded by the disgraceful sacking as coach of the Sri Lankan national side after its weak performance in the 1999 World Cup. Nepal’s good performance would be a victory for him in his home nation.
Cricket is the game of glorious uncertainties; and what cricket fans world-wide hope from their side is good performance. And, Nepali cricket fans are eagerly awaiting good performance; something that people around the world would remember in the years to come.
WHAT THEY SAID
England recovered some of their reputation with a 28-run victory against India in a warm-up match in Colombo, to quieten predictions they might be fall guys in their opening match on Monday against the cricketing powerhouse of Nepal.
…Nepal boast one of the most experienced squads in the tournament and have been acclimatising in Sri Lanka for weeks. It is enough to make England queasy.
The Guardian, UK, Feb 2
U-19 World Cup cricket: Oz don’t rule, Bangladesh aren’t minnows and Nepal are among World Cup regulars.
…But the surprise package is Nepal, a non-entity at the senior level but a regular at the junior World Cup – the Colombo event will be their fourth. Coached by former Sri Lanka batsman Roy Dias, they have one of the most experienced squads in the tournament, with seven players from 2004. And they aren’t around to merely make up the numbers; their track record includes wins over Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Indian Express, India, Jan 30
From the moment the former Sri Lanka batting star, Roy Dias, took charge of running the cricket affairs of Nepal, the country’s cricketing stocks has gone only in one direction. That is skywards.
CricInfo, Jan 22