Cricket Association of Nepal must prioritize women’s cricket

The women’s national cricket team of Nepal grabbed headlines in the recently concluded Twenty20 Asia Cup cricket tournament held in Sri Lanka. 

This was Nepal’s third appearance in the competition.Prior to this,they had participated in  the 2012 and 2016 editions.On both occasions, they were winless.

Although in the latest edition their success was limited to a solitary win against the United Arab Emirates,the first ever in the competition,the overall performance was encouraging and reassuring.

Not surprisingly, they went down to fancied  and formidable opponents in the likes of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to finish the tournament with one win and three defeats.

Going by the team’s performance,it is fair to say  that players gave their best efforts and toiled hard to  put together a  fighting  game but fell well short of achieving the goal.

They  faced quality opponents after a long interval.They lacked the ability,game, experience and strength to become competitive and cope with the challenge.

India,Sri Lanka and  Pakistan  exposed both their batting and bowling weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

 

Given the sorry state of women's cricket in the country,it has been an uphill battle for the team competing internationally.

They deserve a pat on their back for their dedication, passion,determination, industriousness  and relentless effort to  strive for success in difficult circumstances. 

They have  sacrificed their careers for cricket with the intent to glorify the country in the global arena. 

Undeniably, there is no dearth of talent in the country and the level of enthusiasm  in cricketers for  the sport is very high.

 

There is plenty of room for improvement and plenty of room for growth within the team.

The team is on a steep  learning curve and has plenty of ground to  cover moving forward.

The good news is that the number of women  playing cricket is on the rise despite challenging circumstances.

Women cricket has been around for a while but its  development to date is at a snail's pace. 

The stark fact is that  women's cricket is clearly underfunded,domestic  competition structure is irrelevant,there is a distinct lack of  proper grassroots level cricket development,cricketers have been denied adequate  international exposure, infrastructures  and facilities are negligible and there is absence of corporate sponsorship.

As a result,women’s cricket is far lagging behind the rest of the world on all fronts of the sport. 

Cricket Association of Nepal(CAN) responsible for the all round development has  failed to  prioritize and fully embrace women’s cricket and take it in the right direction.

No one disagrees that  it’s time to give women’s cricket the same attention and  treatment as the men and a new lease of life.

Wake up,CAN!  Meaningful steps have to  be taken to bolster women’s cricket  in a significant way.Stop shying away from responsibilities doing very little.

It is well past time to transform and accelerate  the development of women’s cricket.Else uncertainty will continue to reign.That means that players have to continue facing frustration, disappointment and challenges 

Currently the team is struggling largely due to bad governance and there will be no end to it as long as the cricket body doesn’t act with a sense of urgency.