Dipendra Chaudhary will complete 12 years of his cricketing career during the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 5.
During these years, the 30-year-old from Rajbiraj experienced ups and lows and learnt a few lessons of life that turned him into a mature cricketer, among many other things.
“I used to play with aggression. Now, I play with my mind,” Dipendra said of the most noticeable transformation. “I had more shots, better reflexive power, but I have now restricted myself to the best of the shots I can play.”
When Nepal compete in the WCL Div 5 beginning February 20 on home turf, Dipendra will shoulder a big responsibility as he is one of the senior players and one the team expects to play a key part.
The WCL Div 5 is an important tournament for the future of cricket in a country that has failed to meet high expectations. To everyone – from domestic fans to the International Cricket Council (ICC), Nepal is a country with big prospects that has not been able to translate talent into performance.
Dipendra shares a unique quality with the team: he too is a player who has failed to do justice to his talent.
Debuting for the team in the 1998 ACC Trophy in Kathmandu at the age of 19, Dipendra made his name taking six wickets against the UAE – a team from the 1996 World Cup. His bowling figure stood as the nation´s best for a decade.
Wasn´t it surprising that a batsman held a bowling record? “Not at all, I was a bowler who turned into a batsman by one innings,” he said, remembering his 71 not out against Birgunj during the U-19 Selection Tournament in 1997. The innings put him in the U-19 team for the 1997 Youth Asia Cup in Hong Kong.
The next year, he was called to the national team for the ACC Trophy – it was something “he never expected he could achieve in his lifetime”. And for the next few years, he was always in the national team – most of the time coming into the team with brilliant domestic performances and then failing to do well at international level.
“I didn´t perform as expected of me,” he admits. In the 2002 ACC Trophy, Nepal achieved probably their best success, reaching the final, and Dipendra was a team member. “It´s the biggest achievement for the team and me,” he says.
In 2005, Dipendra was dropped from the national team; a huge blow. But within two years, he was back. “Probably because my replacements were only as good as me or I performed well in domestic events,” he recalls.
His exclusion however toughened him up as a cricketer. He was not very serious about his cricket but nevertheless continued playing without putting himself under much pressure. And that was key to his return.
On the eve of the WCL Div 5, he is an important batsman in his best form. “This tournament will be my best because I have never been focused this much,” he says, adding that this is because of the support he is getting from the captain and the coach.
“They have trust in me to contribute and I don´t want to let them and the country down,” he adds.
Coach Roy Dias was equally upbeat about him. “He is a senior batsman,” Dias says. “If he stays there to get into the batting, the runs will flow around him and he can play any bowler,” the veteran Sri Lankan coach adds.
“He is a kind of player who can get 200 if he stays for 40 overs,” Dias says, adding that he was looking to him to play long innings while partnering other batsmen.
Dipendra knows that and he wants to play a big role and help Nepal win the tournament. “My dream is to see Nepal qualify for ODIs and if that happens with me, all the better,” he says.