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'Rise N Shine' of Nepali Cricket

Sportify/ Earlier in Part 1, we paused at the stage when the  international journey of Nepali Cricket had just began. The journey started as Nepal participated in an international event held in Malaysia. During that time, Tundikhel and Sano Gaucharan were the only two venues where Nepalese Cricketers used to play. Later, after getting the membership of ICC, the TU Cricket Ground was developed in Kirtipur, Kathmandu. It is the same venue where Nepal hosted the 2nd ACC Trophy. Nepal played the First Class Cricket in 2004.


The ACC Trophy of 2006 is one of the memorable tournaments for Nepali Cricket. Nepal bowled out Myanmar for just 10 runs. Since then, the biggest cricketing nations also started to keep their eyes on Nepali Cricket. Nepal climbed to Division 4 after beating USA in the final of Division 5, held in their home soil, Kirtipur. The journey continued fascinating and Nepal reached to Division 2 within a short period.

Every Cricketers have a dream to represent their nation in World Cup and every cricket fans have a dream to see their country playing World Cup. The dream came true for Nepal when they played the 2014 Cricket World Cup but unfortunately they couldn't reach to the next round. Nepal gained the T20 status on 28th June, 2014 but later the T20 status was withdrawn by ICC after they were unsuccessful in numerous occasions of T20 Cricket in 2015. But the Cricket Craze in Nepal never stopped declining but has been rapidly increasing since then.

Nepal faced too many difficulties including their governing body 'CAN' which was doubtful and suspended by ICC for an unknown period. But players never gave up and kept focusing at their dreams. The then Skipper Paras Khadka has played an outstanding role for the progress of Nepali Cricket. Hard Work paid off for Nepal and they got the ODI Status in 2018, for four years. Credit goes to all the players and managers, specially to the man who always led from the front, Paras Khadka. Nepali Fans claim that Khadka is the greatest player that Nepal has ever got. Gaining the ODI Status was one of the greatest achievements for Nepal. There is another heroic fairytale about the gain of ODI Status, a bowling All-rounder Karan KC's magical innings against Canada revived the dying hopes for Nepal. Moreover, ICC has removed the suspensions over CAN. Khadka has also stepped down from the captaincy right after that. Currently there are several cricket grounds in Nepal among which the Pokhara Cricket Ground and Fapla Cricket Stadium host quite a few domestic tournaments.

The political instability, natural disasters and other problems have made the Nepalese so stressed and frustrated but Cricket always brings happiness and charm their face.

Contents discovered by Ankit Tiwari
Written and edited by Prateek Bhatta

©SPORTIFY | 2020 

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