Kathmandu:

He came here but for a month, however, six years down the line he is perhaps one of the most recognised faces in the Nepali sports world.

Under his tutelage, our Under-19 team has been able to leave its mark as one of the best in its league.

That’s the legacy of Roy Luke Dias, our coach from the island nation of Sri Lanka.

He first came to Nepal in 2001, when Jag Mohan Dalmiya, the then chairman of ACC (Asia Cricket Council), suggested that he train the boys of Under-19 team of Nepal for the ACC trophy.

“At that time I was looking after my own coaching institute in Sri Lanka. I came here only for a month, and we won the ACC trophy. Nepal was participating in the U-19 World Cup in New Zealand. Jay Kumar Nath Shah, the then president of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN)equested Dalmiya to let me coach the team for the world cup for two months. We were the runners-up in the tournament. Then they wanted me to continue as a coach for the U-19 team so I signed a contract for one year,” says Dias.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

Cricket is such a big part of his life, but being a cricketer was never Dias’ childhood dream. It was something, as he says, that happened by chance.

“During my early college days, I was in the rugby team. But I injured my collar bone, so I had to back out from the team, and started playing cricket instead,” says Dias.

He played for Sri Lanka in the 1987 World Cup. Then in 1989 he started his own coaching school, after which he left for Holland and stayed there as a coach-cum-player for four years. Back in Sri Lanka he was the National Selector from 1995-97, and coached the Sri Lankan national team for two years for the 1999 World Cup.

Though his passion may be cricket, Dias is a man who has donned many mantles. He was a tea taster for eight years, and also worked for a shipping company for 10 years. But he basically describes himself as a “family man”.

“I am a family man. I miss my wife and kids a lot,” he says. “They call me up every evening, and I wait for that one call of the day with much enthusiasm.”

Dias counts himself as a very lucky person for having such an “understanding wife”.

“She is the one person I turn to every time I have any problem, or for any advice.”

He describes his family as one that’s “cricket crazy” so they don’t have any such problem with me staying away from them for such long periods of time”.

Dias believes that he and his wife, Tarana, were meant to be.

He first met Tarana during his school days. She used to come and watch him play. They were introduced by their common friend, but as he says, “Nothing big happened then.”

They moved on with their respective lives, but years later a close friend of Dias’ told him that a girl in his office was asking about him. It happened that the company Tarana was working for had something to do with the cricket team, and by some coincidence she was the one who had to type the players’ names.

And Dias went and met her that very same day. They clicked and after dating for couple of years, they got married in 1977.

Today he has a daughter and a son with Tarana, who he goes home to meet once every three months.

Here in the Capital, he is staying at Hotel de l’Annapurna.

“Though I miss home a lot, life in the hotel has not been difficult. They take special care of my needs. I feel nice staying here as I am not a very out going person. I love my own space. So when I am not out in the fields, I stay in my room watch TV and enjoy on my own.”

Does he miss home cooked food?

Dias says he is not very specific about what he eats. And he does have some Sri Lankan friends here, who occasionally invite him over lunch and dinner.

And when he is not coaching or not visiting friends, he likes to chill out with a good book — his favourites being Day of the Jackal, and novels by Sidney Sheldon. He also loves watching English movies, especially those starring Clint Eastwood.

Though he may not be choosy about his food, Dias says he is very, very particular about his apparel, and confesses that he has a decent collection of shoes.

Though far away from home, he says he enjoys being in Nepal.

“I have lots of friends here, and people actually know and respect me. That is not just because I am a coach, but also because my team performs well. It’s due to their hard work and performance that my input for the team is acknowledged,” says Dias.

According to him, the cricket scene here has improved a lot, and has come a long way — it has been recognised by both ACC and ICC (International Cricket Council). Even in the Elite three-day match for the ACC trophy, Nepal was No. 1, and the national U-19 team is placed at No. 8. And that is a big thing.

“Cricket is not only a game of winning and losing. It is also about communication and friendship among different countries and their teams,” he says, adding, “It was a great pleasure for me to be a part of this family where I not only got to meet my idols like Sunil Gavaskar, Sir Gary Sobers and Vivian Richards, I also got to talk, play and learn from them.”