Cricket Association of Nepal fails to deliver

The   ongoing World Cup cricket co-hosted by Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka   has eclipsed   every sporting headline in the Indian sub-continent lately. It   shall remain so until the tournament is history.

Nepal’s   recent    participation    in   the ACC   Boys U-19 Elite Cup in Thailand   and the ACC   Women’s Twenty-20 in Kuwait went by almost unnoticed on the wake of World Cup frenzy.

These were two important tournaments   in which we expected to do    well. Although we fell short of winning the ultimate prize it was a decent showing, by and large, in my opinion.

Evidently our cricketers   failed to show   fortitude, rise to the occasion and lacked clinical finish when it mattered most, and they had to a heavy price eventually.

Without a doubt these are   shortcomings   that can be taken care of   provided   there   is honest and serious   effort   to address it on part of the responsible party. That said, there is so much to be done in terms of developing the game.

In view of   the     challenging   circumstances   besieging   Nepali cricket, I  compliment players for their  endeavor and commitment.

For the first time  our national under -19 team took part in a major competition without  the service of   Sri Lankan Roy  Dias who bid adieu , following   the  SAF Games held  in Bangladesh.

There were plenty of speculations as to how the team would perform. Despite skepticism   the  boys  put in a  polished performance  but  were unable to carry the  momentum against   Afghanistan in the final .  

As for the   surging Afghanis it was  a sweet revenge because they had  earlier lost to Nepal in the league cum knock out format. Except for the final,  throughout  the championship our cricketers were at the top of their game, be it batting or bowling or fielding.

The second place finish qualified Nepal for the ICC   U-19  Cricket World  Cup tournament. Also two of our   players   Pradeep Airee and Rahul Vishwakarma walked away  with   batsman and bowler of the tournament trophies respectively.  

Indisputably it was a commendable effort by the young Turks . They have  tremendous  potential to  accomplish much more than what they have.

Moving to  our women  , the end result  in the ACC Women’s Twenty-20  tourney  was  a  downer.  After a flying start   they   stumbled against Honk Kong in the semi-final  and went down to Thailand  for the third position.

Also in   the 2009 championship   we  had   lost  to  Hong Kong   in the   semi-final.  Had the   ladies   held their composure and   poise, perhaps, the final outcome would  have  been somewhat  different.

Our women   are   relatively new to the game, however, they have achieved no less than their opposite sex in a short  period of time, which to me is amazing  and incredible.

The biggest problem facing women cricket  is  that there is no   systematic development programme in place.  Whatever exists is makeshift, and   this   has put a big question mark over the   scope and future of  women cricket.

Over the last decade or so, Cricket  Association of Nepal (CAN) has

done  hardly anything significant  to enhance the game that is getting increasingly popular by the day.

Much was expected from   Binaya Raj  Pandey, President of CAN when he assumed office  four years ago.  Taking into account his   impressive   resume  he   was  then viewed  the  ideal  person  who could turn things around.

He was quick to   paint a rosy picture of  Nepali  cricket  under his watch. Also he made  lofty  promises  which sadly  remain unfulfilled to date.  Each passing day he sounds more and  more like an empty vessel.

So  far  there are no   indications that the game  is moving in  the right direction.

  

Barring CAN’s  non performance ,  Nepali cricket progress  continues to be  held back   by  inadequate   infrastructure , a  weak   domestic  cricket structure,  financial  crunch and lack of sponsorship.

Slowly but steadily  President Pandey is turning out to be no better than  his former boss  Jai Kumar Nath Shah.  This  indeed  is a  big jolt to Nepali cricket.