The Cricketing Journey of Nepal Has Just Begun, says Skipper Paras Khadka

Nepal’s cricketing culture received a major boost after they attained ODI status from the International Cricket Council (ICC). However, their inspirational captain Paras Khadka believes that the journey has just started for the Nepalese.

The men in red are freshly coming off their campaign in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers where they could not progress to the Super Six stages ahead of the likes of Zimbabwe and Scotland who remained unbeaten throughout the league stages.

They managed to defeat Hong Kong and PNG in the tournament convincingly to receive the auspicious status. The world found a star in Sandeep Lamichhane who bowled few match-defining spells to take his side towards triumph.

The side made a remarkable rise in the ranks while languishing Division Five, a decade back. Nepal’s skipper reckons it has been a long yet fulfilling journey for the side with a common goal of achieving the status.

“The whole journey has been fabulous. In 2008, we started in the ICC Division Five; since then, we have been fighting. From Division Five to Division Four, to Division One and now the ODI status — it has been a long journey,” stated Paras Khadka.

Khadka himself impressed with the bat against tough opponents such as Zimbabwe and Scotland with scores of 40 and 67 respectively.

“As a team, we just wanted to reach where we are today. It involves years and years of hard work and a lot of sacrifices. I am glad that we have finally been able to reach here,” added the Nepalese skipper according to Sportstar.

Congratulatory messages started to pour in as soon as the news of Nepal attaining the ODI status broke in. Kevin O’Brien and MS Dhoni were optimistic about Nepal making it big in the future.

“Congrats or @NepalCricket for gaining #odi status! Looking forward to our first tour to experience crowds like this! #NepalCricket #WCQ,” tweeted Kevin O’Brien.

Congrats or @NepalCricket for gaining #odi status! Looking forward to our first tour to experience crowds like this! #NepalCricket #WCQ pic.twitter.com/wsuiAHtmNA

— Kevin O'Brien (@KevinOBrien113) March 15, 2018

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