Cricket can put Nepal on the international and regional map. Nepal should thus not hesitate to invest in the Nepali cricket team, for which a beginning has been made
One of the greatest sporting extravaganzas, the World Cricket Championship of the shortest 20 over game organized by the International Cricket Council, has finally come to an end. As expected, India donned the championship crown by defeating South Africa in the final in view of their clean sweep in the tournament.
Nepal had also qualified for the tournament and contested on four occasions, but it failed to register a victory in any of them. The first, played against the Netherlands, ended in a defeat for Nepal. Unfortunately, Sandip Lamicchane could not join the team in the United States. Had he been in the team, the defeat could easily have turned into a victory even though it is said that it is unwise to forecast in cricket. The rains played a spoilsport in the game against Sri Lanka, and Nepal had to share one point each.
The following game against South Africa was a close affair with Nepal only a spark away from victory as it lost by only one run. Though Nepal had to take the loss in its stride, it won the hearts and minds of all cricket followers around the globe. It could be seen how the introduction of Lamichhane had injected confidence into the team. Though he did not take a single wicket despite unleashing a tight bowling, it helped Kushal Bhurtel and Deepak Singh Airy to bag four and three wickets, respectively. Had Gulshan Jha stretched himself a bit, the match would have gone into the super-over paving the way for a 50-50 possibility for Nepal.
The game against Bangladesh was also played brilliantly by Nepal, in fact, well beyond imagination. Lamichhane took 2 wickets making it 100 wickets in 54 matches, a distinction achieved by Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan team captain who achieved this feat in 53 matches. The captain, Rohit Paudel, erred by allowing new bowler Sandip Zohara to ball when the two in form, players Sompal and Airy, had an over each. As a result, Bangladesh scored 106 runs, which were too many for Nepal, and lost by 21 runs as they failed to play the fast bowling of Bangladeshi bowlers Tanzim Ahmed and Mustafizur Rehman.
Cricket is said to have its origin in England going back to Anglo-Saxon times, the contemporaries of the Lichhavis in Nepal. Wrestling appears to have been a popular sport during this time in view of the budget allocated to Malla Yuddha Gosthi, according to the Lele inscription of King Shiva Dev and Amshu Verma of the year 604. Nepal's traditional and national game is Dandi Biyo, which, unfortunately, was displaced by volleyball in 2017. Cricket came to Nepal during the time of Major General Madan Shumsher in the twenties. However, Nepal became a full member of the ICC in only 1996. The team had qualified in 2014 when they beat Afghanistan, which reached the semi-final in this tournament.
Nepal has thus become like a statistician who is said to feel comfortable with one hand in freeze and another in the furnace. Though they excelled in bowling, which is evident in restraining Bangladesh and South Africa within 106 and 115 runs respectively, they failed miserably in batting. The Nepali openers, Kusal Bhurtel in particular, could not give a good start though he did well in bowling. The middle order batsmen, in general, and the captain Rohit Poudel, in particular, by not scoring a single run against Bangladesh and South Africa, also could not perform as desired.
What should be the composition of the Nepali team in future? The example to emulate could be India and South Africa who reached the finals. The Indian team has four batsmen in the top followed by allrounders and bowlers. The four batsmen are Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishav Panta, also the wicketkeeper, and Surya Kumar Yadav. They are supplemented by allrounders such as Axar Patel, Shivam Dubey and Hardik Pandya. On their toes come bowlers Arshdeep Singh, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Burmah.
Similarly, South Africa has Quinton de Kock, also wicket Keeper, Reza Hendricks, H Klassen, David Miller and T Stubbs as batsmen. They had Markaram, Maharaj, M Jansen as allrounders and K Rabada, Bartaman, A Nortje, Tshamsi as bowlers. While Nepal has two batsmen in Anil Shaha and Asif Seikh, also a wicket keeper, the rest of them are all allrounders.
In the future, Nepal should inject two batsmen preferably from among the under 19 players of the likes of Arjun South and Lokendra Bam. Specialist batsmen are necessary in the team to script a victory. Imran Khan, the former fast bowler and Prime Minister of Pakistan, believed very firmly in this principle. Then the Nepali team could consist of Anil Shaha, Asif Sekh, also wicket keeper, and the likes of Arjun South and Lokendra Bam as batsmen. Then it could have allrounders like Bhurtel, Poudel, Airee, Kami followed by bowlers like Lamichhane and Karan KC.
The other weakness of the Nepali team is the lack of a genuine fast bowler. At the present, S Kami is the fastest, but he rarely crosses 140 km. A bowler with a pace of 140-150 km like K Rabada or Tanzim Ahmed is necessary in the team.
When asked in Pakistan, regarding what they know about Nepal, they are said to have taken the names of Mount Everest and Lamichhane. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that cricket has connected Nepal and India because a Nepali boy, indicating Lamicchane, has become a part of the Indian Premier League team.
It shows the huge capacity of cricket to put Nepal on the international and regional map. Nepal should not hesitate to invest in the Nepali cricket team, for which a beginning was made by investing Rs 50 million in the preparation for this world cup. Similarly, it should promote indigenous games like dandi biyo simultaneously as has India, which has been promoting cricket and kabaddi together.
