Talking to Roy Dias before a tournament is monotonous – because he always has similar things to say. Some of his permanent phrases include ‘we could have more training’, ‘we are not looking at the final, we will take it match by match’ and ‘our opponents are tough’. This time also, he was not much different. But, yes, he was a little different on a topic.
“My gut feeling is that this side is good,” the 56–year-old Sri Lankan said after a training session at the TU Cricket Ground. “I will be very disappointed if we don’t win the tournament.”
This was a different Dias because he never talked about win in such an explicit way. But he did not forget to repeat his old phrases: “But we will take it match by match.” And then he also said that this would be an open tournament and the team that could handle the pressure better would emerge victorious.
Dias, and his team, know how much pressure they will be handling. Although in ACC U-15 Cup, all but two teams were kicked out the event because of fielding overage players and Nepal could not play the semifinals; the last final that Nepal played at the TU Ground, the ACC U-19 Elite Cup, drew 20,000 spectators.
The number is something one find nowhere – even Asian Cricket Council was amazed. But for players and coach, the expectation of people is something extra to handle. “I know the expectations are high in Nepal, they expect us to win every tournament,” Dias said. “I have spoken to players about winning the tournament.”
Dias already has a few feathers in his cap as Nepal’s coach. Under his guidance, Nepal has won four ACC U-19 events, reached three plate finals of Youth World Cup winning one of them and won ACC U-15. That’s a huge success for a coach – and he is rightly called inspirational by cricket lovers; but if he lacks something, it’s the senior and U-17 trophies.
And, Dias knows this is his last chance to win U-17 as ACC has decided that this would be the last U-17 event. On the wake of overage problem, the Asian body to control cricket decided to solve it by taking a step back stepping back and scrapping age-group events.
It’s not that overage problem has not marred Nepal’s preparations. After the humiliation of U-15, the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) is ensuring everything goes right this time. They medically tested all players of the U-17 national league and found that only 22 were eligible. Then they sent medical records of these players to ACC who then cut out a few, including four just on the eve of team announcement, to bring down number of eligible players to 14 – exactly the number required for a team.
“I only had 22 players to work with for the event,” Dias said. Then, it was down to 14 and the selection was automatic. But Dias does not seem to be bothered. “I am pleased with the players, they trained hard,” he added. “They only lack match practice and I am trying to give them some with a match against CAN XI on Tuesday.”
Bangladesh Cricket Board Academy traveled to Nepal to play three practice matches. “That was little early, as the team had no time to group,” he said. “I would have preferred them a little late, but it was a good experience.”
And, at least for now, Dias is not talking about weak batting line-up – a perennial problem of every Nepali side. “Batting might not be a problem,” he said. “I am just hoping they will not get carried away and try to play big shots on air.”
Dias is hoping that Captain Prithu Baskota, Sagar Pun, Pradeep Airee and Nischal Singh Chaudhary will come good. “They are good players with some experience at international level,” he said. He rated left-arm pacer Avinash Karn as a ‘prospect’ – someone ‘who could be very good in future’.
The event begins on February 4 and Dias will be the happiest man, along with thousands of Nepali cricket fans, if his team registers a victory in the final on February 13 at the TU Cricket Ground.
(As published in myrepublica.com)