Author Archives: somesh

Past couple of weeks have been very exciting for young cricketers of Nepal and the excitement is likely to continue. Imagine meeting one of the best leaders of the game just before you’re readying yourself for a major tournament. It’s like going to your class science test after a lecture from Stephen Hawking. Yes, meeting Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Indian cricket captain, just before the U-19 Asia Cup might do more than good to the youngsters, who start the tournament playing against India – arguably the strongest side in the competition. After all, this man is known to have inspired Indian team to World Cup title. Dhoni’s arrival and his influence on Nepali cricketers is likely to fill headlines in coming… Read More

What is the first question that comes to your mind if you hear of a Nepali (or any other) player playing for a foreign club? How much is he or she getting? Naturally yes. Sport is a professional arena and you sell your skills for a price. Nepali fast bowlers Amrit Bhattarai and Chandra Saud were selected by Sri Lanka Port Authority Cricket Club to play in the U-23 League, organized by Sri Lanka Cricket Board. There, both Bhattarai and Saud will play one 3-Day match and one 1-Day match every week, for 3 months. But, according to the contract, both players have to bear their own expenses, including ticket to Sri Lanka and food. Here, we can’t complain that… Read More

By the times these lines are read, Nepal’s cricket skipper Paras Khadka would be acclimatizing in Canada, playing for Ontario Cricket Academy & Club, becoming its first Nepali signing. Canada may not inspire awe as far cricket is concerned, at least not like the Test playing countries. But we cannot forget that this country has already played a World Cup, and has cricket history dating back to 1844, when it played first ever international cricket fixture, against USA. As we rejoice the selection of Nepali player for his achievement, we also need to understand why he is where he is. Whether you meet him during the match or in a café, you notice the emphasis he puts on the lines… Read More

Come August 13th, Nepali Colts will play the Aussie Colts, the defending champions, at the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup. Champs versus minnows… Miracles aside, anyone who understands cricket would predict a dominating performance by the champs. But that is not the point to be discussed here. Ever since the event was revived in 1998 (One Youth World Cup was held in 1988) – as “globalization” of cricket became a buzzword, thanks to the then ICC President Jagmohan Dalmiya – Nepal is a country that can be termed as one of the ambassadors for the game. Nepal has benefitted and grown in stature in these championships. The U-19 performances, by and large, have been the most talked about stories in Nepali… Read More

Around a week ago, when U-16 National Championship was being played in the capital, a message appeared on social networking site facebook, “Went to watch U-16 nationals. Sadly, most players were 16-plus. Real under 16 players are bound to be affected if overage players play”. It is almost obvious that this person had a boy playing in the championship and in most likelihood, was a real U-16 player. One of the reasons, the U-16 national championship was organized during SLC exams – when boys of 16 and thereabouts are appearing for the tests touted as ‘Iron Gate’ – was that a team needed to be selected for the upcoming ACC U-16 Elite Cup, to be played in Malaysia in May.… Read More

Nepali cricket fans had a lot to cheer when Shakti Gauchan was named, along with captain Paras Khadka, in the Best XI of ICC World T20 qualifiers. Now that unorganized group is creating a lot of noise – especially on the internet – as Shakti Gauchan was called by one of the franchises of India’s huge money churning T20 cricket circus called Indian Premier League (IPL). The story unfolded like this: Earlier in the week, an official from the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals, Romi Bhinder, wrote a mail to Nepal coach Pubudu Dassanayake. “I would be heading to Jaipur tomorrow and I was thinking of involving your left arm spinner Gauchan for practice sessions in Jaipur.” The effect of that… Read More

Bangladesh ‘almost’ became the Asian Champions in Cricket. One stroke and they could have been the winners of the Asia Cup. Despite loss in the title match, Bangladesh cricket now stands a few inches taller than it was, just before the championship arrived. Bangladesh may not have won the title, but this championship showed that this team, always considered as the ‘also ran’, has finally evolved into a formidable team that is capable of defeating bigger and supposedly stronger teams. While the Asian Test nations were gunning for Asian glory, the real minnows of cricket – the associate nations – were playing ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers, for the two spots of Twenty20 World Cup, which will be played in September… Read More

The national cricket team is embarking on a tour to India, as a preparation for the ICC World T20 Qualifiers, which is to be held in the UAE in third week of March. The 18-member preliminary squad is to go to Mumbai to play 5-6 T20 matches and one 50-over match, with the local teams. This is not the first preparation tour for Nepal and neither shall it be the last. But this time around, the team will be traveling without former skipper Binod Das, who has been dropped from the team. There would be few people to challenge this decision, but it should be noted that he has been dropped only for the T20 matches. Many would remember his… Read More

“If everything goes according to the plan, we might qualify for the World Cup,” said Nepal’s cricket coach Pubudu Dassanayake, in a conversation to yours truly recently, before he was to present his 3-month plan to Nepal’s cricket leaders. The point that the Sri Lankan born coach means well for Cricket Nepal could be denied here. For the line is an optimist one. But the catch, for many, would be the big ‘if’ present there. Many would say: If everything went according to the plan, we would have played previous world cup. For around a decade ago, we were ‘readying’ ourselves to become the next big thing in Asian Cricket. The fact is, not many things went according to the… Read More

These are difficult times to be a cricketer here. Mind you, under normal circumstances it would be busy times with a major championship not too far away (ACC T20 Cup gets underway in a fortnight). Cricketers in Nepal have always considered themselves unlucky. In the beginning days of cricket here, most could not play, given it was only within a reach of richer few. Hence most were unlucky. Till late 90s, Nepal had no participation at international level, so the players were said to be unlucky. When the cricket administration prospered and coffers did not show zero balance, the cricketers said they were unlucky as they did not receive anything out of it.

If you were to visit Tribhuvan University Grounds these days, you could see Nepali cricketers, led by captain Paras Khadka, in practice drills. They are busy in preparation for the SAARC Under-25 Twenty20 Cricket, which Maldives will host. As the boys look sprightly during the net sessions, a rumor that yours truly heard this week comes as a flash. The story is: Recently, President of Cricket Association of Nepal, Binay Raj Pandey called Paras Khadka for a meeting. Paras send a message saying he would meet the new President of CAN, as the change of guards is likely.

‘I love scoring goals for England and playing for England. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t retire – I love playing for my country.’ said David Beckham once, despite knowing he did not feature in the future plan of English football team. Arguably, David Beckham is one of the most celebrated names, if you consider European football post 1990s. Sports psychologists tell you: Pride of playing for the country does make sportsmen run that extra mile, push the barriers a bit further, and makes them feel responsible. Because, in the back of their head, they’re thinking about trying to uplift masses that back them. But can we imagine a situation where a player plays without a country? Impossible you’d… Read More

Hardly had Nepali cricket fans recovered from jolt due to ICC confirmation that the next two World Cups will be 10-team events, they were given another shock. The news of a few former national cricketers moving the Supreme Court against the activities of Cricket Association of Nepal has surprised many, at the same time raised quite a few eyebrows too. Much has already been said by the players and officials from Ireland, the most successful of the associate nations in past two World Cups, along with Scotland, Kenya, Canada and other nations about the associates being shown the exit doors. Whether it moves the money minded ICC or not; Whether it has excluded the ‘world’ from the World Cup or… Read More