Published: Feb 04, 2015, 08:41 AM (IST)
Edited: Feb 04, 2015, 11:47 AM (IST)
Nepal, the newest and probably the junior most cricketing nation of Asia, is currently looking forward the help of big brother India, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to be specific, to continue their development process. Though Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), another big name in the region, has already ensured their support for Nepal cricket.
Nepal recently played the World Cricket League Division (WCL) division two in Namibia, and had a decent outing. The beat teams like Netherlands Canada and Namibia and finished as the fourth team in the league. In July they will be playing the ICC World T20 Qualifier in Ireland. Also International Cricket Council (ICC) will give them a chance to play qualifiers for the 2019 50-over World Cup. So Paras Khadka’s team has a lot of commitments in near future and to prepare for these tournaments Nepal is seeking the help of the big boards in the region.
Talking with CricketCountry, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) Bhawana Ghimire looked quite positive about Nepal’s preparations. “We will be travelling to Ireland in July. Before that I want the boys to play some local competitive cricket preferably in India.” She also confirmed that PCB has officially invited Nepal to a play a local T20 Tournament in Pakistan. Though CAN is ‘yet to decide’ whether the team will travel to Pakistan or not.
“PCB has been interested to help Nepal since long. Earlier they were ready to send fast bowlers for our Division Two preparation as well. But due to tight schedule we were not able to get them. Now they have invited us and we have taken it very positively,” Ghimire said. She is probably expecting similer kind of gesture from BCCI as well.
Apart from this Ghimire also informed that CAN is looking forward to send couple of pacers to MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai. “I am looking forward to send couple of our fast bowlers for training over there before the month of June. It will be really beneficial for our preparations for the ICC World T20 qualifiers in July,” the ever smiling CEO hoped.
But will the authorities of the MRF foundation or BCCI officials come forward to help this neighbour? Time will tell.
(Sandipan Banerjee is a reporter at CricketCountry. Cricket has been the biggest passion for him since his childhood. So, when it came to choosing his career, he chose to turn his passion into his profession. Apart from cricket he likes mountain trekking, river rafting, and photography. His twitter handle is @im_sandipan)
