Nepalese Cricket and way forward.

 

Once again we have promised a lot and once again we have failed to deliver and returned empty handed. Yes i know that apart from Malaysia other opponents in the group i e India and Pakistan are the cricketing powerhouse who have won the world cup (U-19) couple of times each. And i also know that expecting our boys to win against them is asking for impossible to happen. But still, being a Nepalese cricket nuts i was expecting at least some serious fight back from our boys.

What really amused and more importantly made me angry is that little has been done by Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) to address the age old problem of Nepalese cricket, batting. Failure of Nepalese batsman in major international tournament is not a new phenomenon and yet our authorities have done next to nothing to figure out what is causing this  and how it can be solved. All the hard work done by our bowler to restrict opponents within the getable score had been wasted by our batsman playing senselessly. Just have a look at today's match,all the hope and excitement created by our bowler by containing famed Indian batting line-up to mere 173 was dusted by our batsman. And there are many more other instance where we have shown incompetence while batting.

Some people might say that centralization of the cricketing infrastructure is main reason forcing Nepalese cricket to slump. Afganistan is a good example to learn how a country without any cricketing infrastructure whatsoever has managed to establish itself as a cricketing power. While Taliban were ruling their country, these players were getting valuable exposure playing quality cricket for various clubs and teams in Pakistan.

The reason for raising this topic of exposure  is that no matter how much amount of money you pour into developing cricketing infrastructure, no matter how talented player are , if players do not know how to adjust in real match situation, they will ultimately succumb under pressure. Exposure will not only help to overcome the nervousness in the match day but it will also help to expand the creativity by understanding opponent’s tactics.

Hereby i have listed some way, by following which our cricket player can gain valuable experience and exposure needed badly 

• Start domestic 1st class competition: If you look at the matches in which Nepal has batted 1st, against good opponents, you'll noticed that we had usually got all out before the completion of allocated overs. Unlike conventional one-day match, a 1st class match last for more then 1 day (2,3,4 or even 5 days with each team playing 2 inning).Playing this kind of matches will help our batsman to learn the art of  spending time in the middle of the pitch and as great Sunil Gavaskar has  said -'runs will start to flow once you learn how to spent time in the crease'.
• Identify key impact player: If you observe any good cricket team, you'll notice that there are at least 5 player key player who can have positive impact in the outcome of a match (i am not saying other 6 are useless).We should also pick out 5 player (3 batsman and 2 bowler) based on their past performance and talent and nurture them for future.
• Ask for help: Nepal is quite fortunate to have four of the world best cricket playing countries as our neighbour. They have rich cricketing history and are well advance in term of the cricketing infrastructure. Their centre of excellence like MRF Pace foundation in Chhenai, National Cricket Academy (NCA) Banglore, NCA (Lahore), NCA (Colombo) are among the best in the world. If we could use our diplomatic channel effectively, it wouldn’t be that difficult for these countries to allocate couple of scholarship each year for aspiring Nepalese cricketer. Impact players that have been identified earlier could be sent to these centres. The tricks and trade of fast bowling that Binod Das could learn under the watchful eye of Delis Lili could be invaluable for Nepalese cricket. And equally inportant will be batting skills that Sarad Veswakar could learn from Javed Miyadad at NCA ,Lahore.

Brit lee with Denis lillee at MRF pace foundation

• Invite team: CAN should initiate the tradition for inviting quality foreign cricket team at least 3-4 times of the year. All of the team that play 1st class cricket in India, Pakistan, Srilanka  and Pakistan plays good cricket and each of them have their own style of playing. Logistically won't be that difficult to organise tour match of 1st class team like Mumbai Ranji team or PIA from Pakistan. Playing against Nepal in Nepal will also be a good learning curve for these teams.  By playing against these team, our players can gain that valuable exposure which they lacks.
• Professionalism: Standard of cricket that Nepal has in age group is very good among the non test playing nation. As these boys become mans and play for national side our standard nosedives. Experts have pointed out the lack of professionalism for its main cause. When you are young cricketer, you do not have to think about your living and earning. But as a cricketer grows up, he then gets concerned about his sources of income. If we could take out the fear of low or no income from  their minds then it will be easier for them to concentrate more on cricket then non cricketing issues. 

 If three departmental team ie Nepal Police, Armed Police and Nepal Army could form their own cricket team then at least 50-60 Nepalese cricketer can play without fearing about their jobs. 

These cricketing heavyweights (India, Pakistan, Srilanka and Bangladesh) have done enough to promote cricket in their country. Now its time to fulfill their corporate social responsibility by advertising and sponsoring cricket in their neighbours.

 (Images are from google)