17 May Will Gautam Buddha cricket stadium help Nepal cover grounds?
The constructions work for the Gautam Buddha Cricket Stadium is smoothly underway. The project, which not only plans to build the cricket stadium but a sports hub, is one of the most awaited and ambitious project running in Nepal. Since it is being constructed under the supervision of the Dhurmus Suntali foundation, probably, for the first time in recent memory, there are optimisms that plans will be executed perfectly in the allocated time, something which we aren’t accustomed to.
The foundation postponed their very own ambitious project of ‘Namuna Nepal’ and decided to work in the field, cricket, which is totally different than their profession, their previous projects and experiences. The foundation answered the emergency call of the fans, a certain organization should not be responsible for providing stadia for the national sports team. It is courageous and brave step towards sky rocketing our sporting culture and prowess, one becomes obliged to support the foundation in every way and look to increase the productivity from the platform Dhurmus and co will set for us.
The stadium’s final construction will solve many problems of Nepali cricket. The construction procedure is the revolutionary one in Nepali history. The budget for the construction of whole hub will be funded by Nepali people, if not local municipality, if not government. The project could bring the optimism, motivation, recognition and identity to Nepali sports in the society which the sports community is desperately looking for. The stadium will provide much needed platform but the problem of Nepali cricket lies deeper than the stadium.
The stadium won’t solve every problem of Nepali cricket. Get the stadium inside two years and the stadium will be useless because we still don’t have the proper cricket calendar. A single domestic 50-over tournament is shouldering the burden of an ODI nation and still no one knows the actual scheduling of the ‘PM cup’ next season (2020). Three franchise tournaments won’t be enough for us to reach new heights. In sports, if you don’t address the individual, collective and professional demands, you are bound to fall behind the averages. Nepal must answer the demands of international cricket.
These aren’t those days when you call the best players of only domestic tournament for the camp just ahead of any international assignment. For example, World Cricket League is replaced by the World Cup League 2, which gives clearer but tough pathway for the world cup. There needs to be a cycle, a system in which players can focus on their professional career throughout the season.
Within the internal structure, we are lacking the long term visions too. What will we do of the stadium in the three years from now? Nobody knows. Probably, everybody is simply waiting for the stadium to be constructed. By the time stadium holds its inaugural match, Nepal will be already halfway through the WCL 2. Everybody dreams big of playing the ODI World Cup in India but the stakeholders shamelessly shoulder all the expectations and responsibilities into players.
Nepal reached heights with minimal infrastructure and almost non -domestic tournaments. This is the country where sporting officials don’t try to accept the reality until their ego and understanding is rudely beaten in front of their eyes. The fans, the media, the players have cried to save the sports. Probably, the Nepali sports need the replica of Govinda KC, or Kulman Ghising, who timely reminds people of the reality.
The stadium won’t solve all the problems rather it will bring other problems to the surfaces, which needs to be solved very sooner. Maybe, we need the stadium for that. As Binod Chaudhary quoted,” the lack of resources has never been obstacles for the development in Nepal, the will to dream is.” A simple awareness of basic sports in the administration will absolutely help us.
Kenya cricket was once the leading Associate nation in the world. They reached the height which we, still today, can only dream of. The intra-board struggle and lack of structure took toll on the Kenya. The team which made it to the semifinals in the 2003 Cricket World Cup, doesn’t even play the global qualifiers now. Who knows, maybe, a small South Asian nation which is dreaming to play test cricket in next 10 years may suffer even worse fate than the Kenya cricket?
We are in better situation than the most of the test playing nations were back in their initial days. Let’s not lose this ground. We have suffered so much for this day, we have been beaten, battered, bruised and torn but we have learnt from all those mistakes. From beating Argentina and Tanzania to beating Netherlands and the UAE, we have come a long way with this ineffective domestic system. This is the absolute peak time to put our cricketing possibilities to outside limits.
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