Leg-spinner Raj Kumar Pradhan, who was in closed training Camp for ACC T-20 Cricket tournament, quit national team on Tuesday for foreign employment opportunities in Qatar.
Raj Kumar will work and play for Qatar Al Hasan Becker for the next two years.
According to Pradhan, his contract should be renewed every year. As per the contract he should play cricket every Friday and Saturday, while he should work for rest of the five days for the company. He will receive Rs 30,000 per month for his service.
“If I could perform well for the company I´ll get extra incentives”, said Pradhan.
“I was under pressure from my family and I chose the option to migrate to Qatar.” He added, “So far as I´m concerned, other players also have similar condition, therefore, I request Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) to think about players”.
He quit the camp after informing Coach Roy Dias and CAN.
Ten years ago, Raj Kumar had served in Qatar for three years. Raj Kumar said that the company was impressed by his performance during his international career.
In his early career, Raj Kumar was top order batsman and medium-pacer but after his return from Qatar he turned into leg-spinner and lower order batsman. In the meantime, he had played for Morang in the last edition of the Jai Trophy, where he was nominated as the best bowler.
As he impressed selection committee by his performance, he was picked for the national team in 2001 to play in the ICC Trophy held in Canada. However, Canada didn´t provide him the visa.
In 2002 he was picked in the national squad to play ACC Trophy in Singapore. He was one of the important players to take Nepal in the final of the tournament. Raj Kumar had taken 3 wickets in the semifinal of the tournament to beat Malaysia.
After the tournament, Raj Kumar had played 31 ODIs and took 35 wickets at an average of 18.51. Likewise, he took 36 wickets in three-day internationals at an average of 21.61. Raj Kumar had two 5-wickets haul in three-day internationals.
(As published in Republica)