The 16-year-old left-hander was man-of-the-match in all three matches that Nepal won during the league stage. And, he has performed well in both batting and bowling -- scoring two fifties and taking 14 wickets. [break]
Nischal is the first Nepali cricketer to win three man-of-the-match awards in a row. He is also the first Nepali player to take five wickets and score fifty in the same match in any level; and he has done it twice.
“So far it´s a one-man show,” Nepal´s coach Roy Dias said about the boy who he thinks can become the best all-rounder of Nepal with proper nurturing.
Though Nischal looked like earning the fame from nowhere, his performance is a result of relentless work put by himself, and more importantly, the Cricket Association of Chitwan (CAC).
He is only the third cricketer -- after Kush Gurung and Ishan Baniya -- to be selected in the national team from Chitwan, a district better known for rhino -- the emblem of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) -- and a product of CAC Academy.
“When he first came to the academy, he only had interests in cricket,” Raju Khadka, the former national captain who works as the coach at the CAC Academy said. “He had no power and techniques.”
Khadka, who is in a role of match referee in the tournament, even had to bowl at Nischal so that his fear for fast bowling would go away. “When I asked him to put as much as protection, he used thigh pad on chest,” Khadka recalled.
“I never thought, I would play so good,” the 16-year-old student of Grade XI at Balkumari Higher Secondary School said.
CAC is elated by his performance. “His performance has encouraged us,” Kailash Pradhan, the president of CAC , said. CAC regularly organizes Indo-Nepal Cricket Series for the betterment of the players.
The academy that runs on the public Campa Ground was started four years ago and 25-30 cricketers are learning the skills of the game two hours a day. The academy is more a training center being run on donation and funds collected by CAC.
The boy wants to perform well in the remaining two matches. “I want to continue contributing to the nation´s win in the next two matches,” he said, adding that he also hoped to get into the U-19 team.
With the performance, he is surely a serious contender for a place in the next age-group, and in future, the national team. “He has the potential, and I am sure, with proper guidance he could become a very good cricketer,” Dias said.
Nischal could have been any other grade XI student loving cricket if there was not this CAC initiative. “There would have been no way for Nischal if there was not this academy,” Khadka said.
Sunday´s Matches
Semifinal: Nepal vs Malaysia @ TU
Semifinal: Singapore vs Hong Kong @ IoE
7th Place: Kuwait vs Thailand @ BSAM
Related story
Will Major General Pandey step down amid age dispute?
-1200x560-1781083488.webp)
