Category Archives: Opinion

Nepal embarks on another campaign at Asian level Cricket, to play in the ACC Trophy Elite. As the players leave the country, their heads will be held high, having received previously unheard sum – for the cricketers – from the government of Nepal. The reward is a result of Nepal’s entry into the ICC World Cricket League Division 3. And what an achievement it has been. As expected, it’s been celebrated well, by public, by various (political) organizations – trying to cash in on the increased popularity of cricket. But yours truly gets a feeling that we might have had one celebration too many. Nothing wrong with the celebration, as long as it doesn’t become an impediment for the future… Read More

BY JASHANPREET SINGH GILL This article comes at a time when the Nepal fans are very happy with a great win the team got in ICC World Cricket League Division 4. The fans now are confident that the team has a good shot for 2015 World Cup. While the team has done greatly and very nicely guided with the dynamic coach Pubudu, it must be noted that the team performance has not been due to some great work done by Nepal Cricket Authorities but rather than the passion of the players and some extra curricular activities led from the front by the Coach. The Coach got the Captain Paras to play regular Club Cricket in Canada. He got Shakti Gochan… Read More

Team Nepal has climbed to the ICC World Cricket League Division 3, after roaring performance at the Division 4 in Malaysia. Much has been said about the players who were a part of it and Nepal government has duly recognized their contribution, announcing an award of Rs. 300,000 for each member of the squad. With the win, the team, which looked in tatters around a year ago – with string of bad performances in Asian Games in November, 2010, and ACC T20 at home grounds in December 2011 – has turned a corner. It climbed in the world rankings to 27th position, from 29th. So how was it possible for the same team – well, almost – to make such… Read More

It is strange how the ghosts of past keep coming back to haunt you. More so, in sports, as it deals with statistics – again, of the past… By all means Malaysia has been a happy hunting ground for Nepali cricket – after the home ground – having won two titles at age group level cricket. The first of them came at the ACC U-15 Two Day, when Nepal won the title under Prithu Baskota’s captaincy, in 2006. Nepal won ACC U-19 Elite Cup, in 2007, under Paras Khadka’s captaincy. Some of the members of present senior team like Anil Mandal, Amrit Bhattarai, Gyanendra Malla were a part of the team coached by Roy Dias. At the same time, the… Read More

Australia thrashed Nepal by 212 runs. Ireland beat Nepal by 14 runs. England outplayed Nepal by 200 runs. Sri Lanka defeated Nepal by 8 wickets. These were results of first four matches of the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in Australia. Anything odd? Yes, of course. This was first time Nepal lost four straight matches in six U19 CWCs. In 2000, it had lost three matches straight but it was Nepal’s debut and the Super League – the second round of top 8 teams – where Nepal lost matches to India, Sri Lanka and England.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. A lot has happened in cricket since Nepal pipped South Africa to enter the Super League at the U-19 World Cup, in their first appearance at the event, in 2000. This was the first, and so far only, incident of an associate member of ICC entering the Super League stage at the Youth World Cup. It’s a different issue that South Africa were one of the favourites and were unlucky to be eliminated after three no-results gave them just three points. Nepal, with four points due to one no-result against South Africa and a win over Kenya, went through to the Super League. After all, Nepali players did not create… Read More

A cricketer, who plays at the national level, bumped into a few sports journalists at a café. Incidentally, I happened to witness the conversation. He asked, “When are the national championships happening?” He was promptly replied, “It’s not likely to happen this year.” While it may sound as a normal conversation, it is definitely not normal. It goes on to show, at a deeper level, the problems our cricket faces. A cricketer has to ask a journalist about when a tournament that he is supposed to play in takes place. The incident shows that the governing body of cricket in the country, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), has not communicated with its players, whether the national championship is going to… Read More

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

“We can qualify to the World T20 Cup in 2014.” If anybody else has told me this, I would have eyed him as someone who has no idea about our cricket. But this was Paras Khadka, the skipper whom anyone keeping an eye on cricket can only praise. He said so publicly as soon as returning from UAE, when he led the team to an impressive seventh-place finish in the World T20 Cup qualifiers. This time, only two teams qualified but next time, six teams will proceed to the world stage from the qualifiers. “We finished seventh, a step ahead and we are in,” Paras told the media. The captain knew, perfectly, that his team has every chance to move… 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

Test match fever is all gone after Australian Open Tennis dominated cricket this summer here in Australia. The domination started after years first Grand Slam Tennis started in Melbourne. I am here not to talk about tennis and I can’t even forget almost six hours of clash between Djokovic and Nadal in the Australian Open final. However, I am here to talk about the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. I tweeted at the end of the 4-match Test series about India’s flop duo Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman’s retirement plans. I wrote: “this will not gonna happen” and it will not happen. No doubt they had extraordinary talent. Sachin Tendulkar, well every one can put him on exceptional case, will and can play… 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

Binod Das is out of the national team! On Tuesday, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced the preliminary squad for the World Cup Twenty20 Qualifiers, axing former captain Binod. This is the first time in almost 13 years that the cricketer from Bara was not considered for a team he is qualified to play for. This alone speaks a lot about his contribution to cricket in Nepal. I feel saddened by the news that he is not in the team but that doesn´t mean I am against the decision to axe him. I feel Binod has done so much for cricket, and has created enough ground to continue contributing to cricket, that it doesn´t matter whether he is in the… Read More