Kudos To Nepalese Colts

Kudos to Nepali colts for their historical and commendable victory over Pakistan at the ongoing ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup championship in New Zealand. It was a flawless performance by the team who almost dealt a similar blow to England before going down narrowly in the opener.

Undaunted by the loss the youngsters made an amazing comeback and delivered the goods to bring down powerful Pakistan, one of the tournament favourites to their knees. The team mixed individual brilliance and collective effort to conjure up the victory. The victory verifies that Nepal is truly a champion in the making. Another landmark, another feat can be accomplished by our cricketers should they qualify to the next round. Indeed they stand a pretty good chance of reaching the milestone.

Unlike the famous rivals, they take on Papua New Guinea, one of the rank-outsiders in their last group match. Now that the celebration is over the youngsters have got to seriously refocus themselves on the crucial tie against the islanders. We have to take the opposition just like Pakistan or England, putting every ounce of our skill and effort to carve yet another victory. To assure ourselves a berth in the next round a convincing victory is a must. Equally important for us is to maintain a good bowling and batting average to escape a huge disappointment in case there is a three way tie in the group. So far our ascent has been exceptionally phenomenal.

Credit goes to the former Sri Lankan international Roy Dias, coach of Nepali U-19 squad for his excellent work and converting the team into a winning combination. Despite our success a lot remains to be done to uplift Nepali cricket in terms of development and physical facilities. What we desperately require is something bigger: a professional setup, coupled with a cricket friendly environment to mould thousands of aspiring talented cricketers across the country. That is possible only if the government gets directly involved in the development process. Otherwise, the scenario will remain unchanged regardless of our international performances.

Sushil Thapa
Winchester, Virginia, USA