‘Nobody supported me to comeback’ -Binod Das

Whatever Nepal has achieved in cricket it has all been against the odds. Our players sacrificed, sweat and shed blood to bring whatever recognition to Nepali cricket today.

What has administration done except from jeopardizing any imminent & parallel growth possible with players’ triumph in various stages of our cricket history? It is no hidden fact that Nepal’s fans have achieved what Cricket Association of Nepal couldn’t all these years. Keeping it the competition between Fan & CAN, it shouldn’t surprise us that fan comes glaring winner ahead of their responsible counterparts.

If not fan, our cricket would have already lost somewhere we wouldn’t even know. If not fan, no ICC would have been impressed in last tournament held in Nepal and all the tournaments before that. If not fan, wonder if ICC ever visited a hapless cricket administration like Nepal. Has ICC been to Afghanistan yet? No.

Why cricket survive in Nepal despite all the ‘weirdest’ (not difficult but frustrating) problems possible? Simple. Because of fans.

When ICC came to Nepal and had a meeting with all the stakeholders, I wondered, did they really met all of them. No. We didn’t had a representative of fan among those stakeholders. Not talking about NCFC or NCSS (two registered fan clubs of Nepal) presence but someone who can talk on behalf of fans, after all, the cricket in Nepal (almost everywhere) is by the fans, of the fans, for the fans.

Ask any cricket player, what kept them going all these years without facilities and funds. It is fans. The unselfish love, passion and admiration from them. The hopes in their eyes & cheers in their voices. After all, the players are also the fans of sports first.

There is no denying the role of fans is what decides the fate of any sports in any country. We as a developing one, it matters much more. Then why not we have a representative of fan in CAN. What’s wrong or sad about that. Without any economic benefit, the only person, except players again, who can think about cricket in Nepal is one true fan of cricket.

It is actually not even a problem at first place that we need to have a fan in administration body but the way things have gone haywire (it is either do or die for cricket’s future in Nepal) we need a fan who can keep eyes on things that happens in CAN or cricketing body that will be formed in Nepal to run cricket. We need an assurance. As simple as that. I want Nepali cricket to grow. If that means we need a fan to keep account of things happening in CAN meetings, we will need to find one.

Not a necessary procedure neither a practical one but it is needed in hapless context of Nepal. If you pay attention to the current developments since ICC visited Nepal you won’t be a bit of surprised from me asking for a responsible, capable, dependable & trustworthy fan in CAN who will let us know what goes on in all that unsuccessful CAN meetings over the years. What is stopping us from doing the simplest & obvious things to take our cricket to next level? Why can’t we make cricket a solid foundation of economic stability in our country? It’s time we get all the answers.

About time, we stop compromising with our cricket. The way ICC came to Nepal and hinted at all great things that can happen to Nepal, we need to act. No more sitting back and watching these undeserving administrators mess things up for the umpteenth time. If the time demands for unnatural measures, so be it. Fan will save cricket too. We need a fan in CAN for good of cricket. We live in a democracy, time to think like one.

You can find zillions of talk show in Nepal but Pariwartan-A Movement hosted by Suraj Singh Thakuri truly has to be one of the best. His last week’s guest were current Nepal national team captain Paras Khadka & the captain he replaced Binod Das. As expected, the program was an epic show between three statesman one can think of from Nepal. The host Suraj Singh Thakuri’s passion for the game was visible along with Paras Khadka’s concern for future of cricket in Nepal and Binod Das’s love for the game after 2 years of retirement was as intact as it was ever before.

It was a good show from start to the beginning. Expectedly, some great insights were revealed by all three involved.

First of all, Jarrod Kimber is an obsessed fan of cricket, just like you, me and any who have felt that crazy connection with cricket. Cricket is a sport that should be spread all over the world, like any other. However, BCCI, CA & ECB has somehow (which again brings us to fans) hijacked the sports limiting it to only three countries, yes, rest of the test teams just make the number so that the big three can have occasional change of matches (and players for their respective glittering multi-million dollar home domestic leagues).  They are mere puppets (which seven teams haven’t realized yet).

Every geeks and nerds of cricket readers out there know who Jarrod Kimber is. If not, the ones who watched ‘Death of a Gentleman’ will do. Still not, God bless you. Jarrod launched a barrage of tweets mentioning Anurag Thakur the president of BCCI (and one among the four boards which opposed the two-tier test league) just before the meeting ICC meeting which was supposed to decide the fate of test cricket. The failed leg-spinner only wanted Thakur to know how he can help cricket grow and allow the two-tier system to happen so that not only 10 test countries but other 95 countries can flourish too.

However, it all went in vain as the proposed two-tier test system was shelved. You can read all his tweets on his twitter handle @ajarrodkimber. The Australian born is all about passion & unconditional love for the game.

Cricket Players Association of Nepal triumphs again with initiating another set of scholarships for two more youngsters. After Prem Tamang & Raju Rijal last week, it is Aarif Sheikh & Sunil Dhamala this time to be sponsored by Sipradi Group for next two years with Rs. 20,000 per month deal. CPAN is also working on installing a revamped domestic structure in Nepal. They also announced to tour Nepal playing matches in various cricket cities and raising funds to help promoting and growing cricket in Nepal. The consistency and exploits of CPAN is best thing ever happened to Nepali cricket since Paras Khadka. After all, Khadka is General Secretary of players’ association.

Nepal is one freak nation when comes to politics. I don’t even want to discuss it more but the way all the involved political parties are snatching-scratching up like rabid dogs to control cricket in Nepal it makes me puke. Everything is means of politics in this country. They have no idea how much it demotivates & demoralizes all the players and fans who only want cricket to foster in this country. Let’s quickly move to next topic.

The Ugly: Cricket Politics, because being bad is not enough
In fact, even if I sub-divide this sub-topic into The Ugly, The Uglier & The Ugliest, all these politics in the name of cricket will fall in The Ugliest. Politics for power is a most common thing in this world, we enjoy Game of Thrones for a reason, but I haven’t ‘seen’ real life mad kings or mad leaders who are ready to burn them all to ground if required. Well, it is just happening in Nepali cricket. All the political parties involved are adamant to have their control over the cricket even if that rather means cricket is shunned in Nepal for ever. They are ready to shut the cricket in Nepal but won’t compromise to a middle ground which would benefit all of them and most importantly cricket. They are willing to burn it all if they don’t get their benefits. This is disgusting. They hardly care. We have a funny piece of paper which actually allows them to stand on their demands ‘legally’ known as constitution. What is wrong with this country?

Cricket purists will always admire (and enjoy) the amount of contribution Rahul Dravid bestowed upon international cricket and his nation India. He was the go to man for every problem India ever had. Needed a wicket-keeper, Dravid took the gloves. Needed an opener, Dravid volunteered. Needed a captain, Dravid stepped up. Needed seniors to step aside for younger lots, Dravid was first to retire. It is immeasurable. Dravid is the player every team craves for. Now he is needed by India to build/develop new breed of players. He is up and doing wonders for it. Last week he won a quadrangular series in Australia which included the developmental teams from India, Australia and South Africa. Before that he successfully coached India U19 in ICC U19 World Cup only losing in final.

But the fact that many may have forgot is that Rahul Dravid was first to speak high about Lokesh Rahul to be next big thing for India while the attentions flared around Mandeep Singh to Manish Pandey to Unmukt Chand. It can’t get any better to have Dravid at helms of generation next of India. Rahul is just one of many names. His debut centuries in Tests, Odis and T20s suggest he is set for big things for India. The technique and temperament shown by Rahul (Lokesh now) in such young career is only next to Virat Kohli in recent times. There are great things waiting ahead for India and cricket fans around the world loving simple, aesthetic and classical batting. He is a joy to watch. This Rahul also can bat anywhere, keep when required and be the go to man Kohli will crave for in his upcoming young team. Rahul and Rahul are going to make India one powerful cricketing powerhouse, at least in batting.

Article of the Week: Is Test cricket a viable product for Gen Next?

An article from Harsha Bhogle tried to put some light on issue if lesser teams are actually prepared for rigorous demands of Test matches or not. Even in my humble opinion, I guess Tests will be too much to ask. Maybe a T20/ODI league of similar promotion and relegation format might provide some insight to the readiness and preparations of countries like Nepal or Hong Kong to further develop into test sides.

Nepal needs couple of good fast bowlers, Netherlands would do with couple of middle order batsmen, Hong Kong need openers, etc can be assessed with playing competitive matches with top teams in limited over format for now and move accordingly to next direction from there. Are the fans really ready to sit through 4/5 days of test cricket and come to grounds to cheer for their players? It can all turn boring very quickly for fans who has so far supported and watched their favourite players play their favourite sports in limited versions, more commonly, T20s.

Context matters. Competition matters. And for growing countries like Nepal (and ICC), commerce matters too.

As much as ICC wants Nepal to grow as a cricket nation and feature in ODI scheme of things sooner than later, the truth was well documented by future doctor and current columnist of Wicketnepal.com Arun Upreti on twitter handle under his blog name 22 Yards.

“We are not going to be an ODI nation with club cricket organised once in 2 years and the season spanning less than a week.”

One sentence is enough to sum up our cricket which is going to struggle badly even if we are fast tracked to ODI cricket. Yes, everything should be addressed together along with our attempt to play regular international cricket but producing quality cricketers needs quality assertion of present and imminent processes. Building a quality domestic cricket setup takes time. Remember Bangladesh. See Zimbabwe. And we have none at the moment. We even stopped hosting weekly domestics & club cricket (organized once in 2 years) which puts us in minus right now.