The ball is in Nepal’s cricket court

It was the final of the 2018 ICC World Cricket League in Windhoek, and Nepal was in dire straits. Needing 195 runs to win, the team was down to its last wicket at 144.

Sandeep Lamichhane and Karan KC then pulled off a heroic and historic last stand of 51 runs to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat (pictured above). They won the coveted One Day International (ODI) status,  and Nepal was in the same league as cricketing heavyweights England and India.

“I was a proud coach witnessing history unfold,” recalls Jagat Tamata, who now coaches the Nepali women’s team. “I will never forget those incredible moments.”

But three years after the miraculous win, Nepali cricket’s meteoric progress has hit a snag.

Nepal is competing internationally in April after a 13-month pandemic-induced pause. Coaches and players alike have bemoaned the lack of international exposure, and its impacts on the game’s development.

To be sure, there are age-old problems plaguing Nepali cricket. The International Cricket Council (ICC) suspended the country's cricketing body Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) from 2016 to 2019 for politicising the sport.

Corruption and infighting is rampant within governing bodies but crumbling sports infrastructure has not been able to support local talent either.

“Unnecessary meddling is an obvious problem, but we are taking small steps to rectify that,” assures CAN President Chatur Bahadur Chand. “With the backing of fans, media and sponsors, we hope to continue important tournaments and increase exposure.”

One such tournament, the Everest Premier League, is due to resume in September 2021. Headlined by marquee players like former national captain Paras Khadka and New Zealand pinch-hitter Corey Anderson, the tournament is expected to usher in a new era of fast, exciting and competitive cricket to the country.

The sudden rise of cricket in Nepal has transformed the game from an elite pastime to a beloved sport of millions of fans. Imported from Britain in the late 1940s, cricket was first played on four pitches across Tundikhel. CAN was set up in 1946, and soon tournaments under Rana patronage (pictured below) attracted established players from India.

“We first started out at Tundikhel, then fanned out to every empty space available,” recalls former cricketer Raju Basnyat. “Cricket really took off once the Tribhuvan University turf ground was completed.”

Towards the end of Panchayat, the Royal Nepal Army restricted access to the grounds. Tournaments were cancelled and cricketers started fading into obscurity as international exposure decreased.

Cricket made a comeback with Nepal’s first-ever international tournament, the 1996 ACC (Asian Cricket Council) Trophy in Malaysia.  Captain Uttam Karmacharya recalls: “We were excited and nervous, and unsure if we could compete. But as a whole we performed well, as we beat Brunei and Japan and narrowly lost out to Bangladesh, Fiji and Hong Kong.”

Nepal’s increasing potential was rewarded with hosting rights for the 1998 ACC Trophy. With no proper cricket ground available, the ACC aided the construction of ground in Pulchok Engineering Campus, St Xaviers’ School and Tribhuvan University, which was soon leased by CAN. This helped raise professionalism in the sport.

But while the team performance improved, the system and infrastructure remained primitive. Players had no multi-day match experience, the domestic season was not long enough, and junior cricket had no school tournaments.

Despite failings, youth teams propelled Nepal onto the international cricket scene. The country progressed to the second round of the Under-19 World Cup in 2000 and qualified for four successive editions, beating star-studded teams along the way.

“Defeating established teams like New Zealand and South Africa are moments I will always cherish,” says current national team Captain Gyanendra Malla. However, Nepal’s performance over the 2012 and 2014 editions were disappointing.

“While Test cricket-playing nations get better, we remain static," explains Malla. "We have to make the base strong before expecting results at the senior level."

Nevertheless, Nepali cricket has improved significantly over the last decade. Under the tutelage of noted Sri Lankan coaches Pubudu Dassanayake and Roy Dias, Nepal jumped from lowly minnows to just missing out on the Twenty-20 World Cup knockouts in 2014. Another celebrated coach, Aussie Dav Whatmore, has recently been appointed head coach, much to the delight of fans and team members.

The next logical goal is achieving Test-cricket status--the most revered format of the game.

Nepali cricket has all the ingredients to get there. A conveyor belt of young talent, a wealth of experience and passionate fans must now be supported by a system focused on rebuilding infrastructure and keeping politics and corruption off the cricketing pitch.

Says Jagat Tamata: “Coaches cannot perform miracles. The fans have their hearts in the right place, but a supportive cricketing system must be in place.”

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