Mumbai, Feb 10 (PTI) Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) secretary Paras Khadka said the lion-hearted performance against England in a T20 World Cup match was the symbol of the “resilience and determination” of a young cricketing nation.
Nepal fought bravely till the end but lost by a mere four runs against the two-time champions to give a fine account of themselves in their opening match of the ICC showpiece, here on Sunday at the Wankhede Stadium.
Making only their third appearance in the T20 World Cup, Nepal will now take on tournament debutants Italy in a Group C match here.
“For us to play the kind of cricket that we did, I’m very proud of the effort and we believe in our team. Our boys have the resilience (and) the determination, we’re a young cricket nation, the emotions are part of it,” Khadka, who played 10 ODIs and 33 T20Is for Nepal, said here at a CAN event.
Khadka noted that despite it being the time of general elections in Nepal, talks about a cricket match dominated the Himalayan nation’s topic chart.
“Nepal cricket has been blessed with great coaches and now playing at the Wankhede, (it) felt like home. We had around 17,000 supporters, almost everybody looked like a Nepali supporter, when we opened up social media during the game and after it, we are on the brink of elections back home,” he said on Monday.
“… for the last 24 hours, it’s only been cricket news of what could have been or what could have happened. But for us the most important thing is we are here, we’re playing in Wankhede, we’re playing in Mumbai, as we all know it’s probably a centre stage for where Indian cricket is,” Khadka added.
The 38-year-old said Nepal is beginning to make their mark in Asia after watching other giants in the subcontinent.
“I would say the game has now grown into a level where we’re in the subcontinent but Nepal being a young cricket nation, we’ve grown watching all of the big cricketing giants around us,” he said.
“But we are slowly making our mark towards where we want to head towards, the future is bright, there’s a lot of prospects of where we’re heading towards, a lot of support from the government, non-government, corporate sector back home and with the kind of performances (on Sunday) and with the three matches remaining, we believe that we can make it to the second round,” Khadka added.
Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, who was among the panelists, said Nepal have an inherent fighting spirit.
“There is an inherent fighting spirit which is something Afghanistan has as well. Afghanistan never goes on the field as an emerging team or a weaker team and they don’t feel anxious on the field,” he said.
“It’s inherent, something that is God given. I dare say India used to be nervous for a number of years. I used to be a part of a team in the 90s that was anxious when it went abroad.
“I don’t see that anxiety in Afghanistan and I don’t see that in Nepal, so that’s a great start,” Manjrekar added. PTI DDV UNG
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