Kathmandu, December 22:

Hemant Pathak, who claims himself as a former Ranjit Trophy player, lashed out at Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) today for their unwillingness to provide TU ground.

Pathak accused CAN as being a hurdle in the development of Nepali cricket. “We had finalised a junior international cricket tournament in Kathmandu but we are sad to cancel it due to the unavailability of the ground,” said Pathak at a press meet. According to Pathak, Adarsh Social Welfare Youth Organisation (ASWYO), an NGO based in Syangja, had finalised the Nepal International Youth Cricket Tournament but were forced to cancel it out.

“I have been writing them since October to get the TU ground. CAN denied us the ground and we had to postpone our programme by 20 days from the original date of December 6,” added Pathak, the president of the organising committee.

Pathak said that they also reduced the number of participating teams to 10. “To my amazement, they denied us the ground but provided it for some inter-school tournament,” added infuriated Pathak.

“Only recently, I requested CAN president (Binay Raj Pandey) to provide us the ground for at least four-five days so that I could hurriedly complete the tournament as my reputation was in line but he denied me.” He claimed that two English teams from Durham Cricket County, Young Talent Cricket Team of UAE, Bahrain Cricket Team and six Indian school and club teams had confirmed their participation. He also claimed that he had invited BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla for the inauguration.

CAN president Pandey agreed that someone had asked for the ground in October. “I asked him to send me the programme details but I never got one.” Pandey said that Pathak had called him a few days earlier saying that he had come with the teams. “How can we provide him the ground when there was a tournament in progress? Besides, why is he here with the teams, if any, without getting our approval?” asked Pandey. Pandey said that he would have managed the ground somehow if the man was serious about any such event, but the CAN president believed Pathak wasn’t.