Kathmandu-The ongoing crisis in the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) due to the dispute between the elected CAN body and the Ministry of Youth and Sports is deepening which is eroding Nepal Cricket day by day. This dispute has resulted in the cancellation of Senior National Tournament scheduled to start this month and mismanagement of CAN. Currently, there doesn’t exist any cricket board in Nepal as CAN is suspended by the government and the ad hoc committee formed by the government is barred by the government.
The issues with CAN started when Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a probe against 18 persons involved with CAN on April 12, including President Tanka Angbuhang, General Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakurel, and Treasurer Ram BAbu Shrestha alleging that they had misused CAN funds while buying cricketing kits and had not paid the salaries of the players for eight months.
CIAA also slammed CAN for misappropriating 14.31 million provided by the government and donor agencies for the purpose of construction of stadium and building, besides sending irrelevant persons in foreign trip on CAN´s expenses.
Six months later, on November 6, the government dissolved CAN mentioning that the body was not competent enough to take Nepal Cricket forward and address the needs of the National team and players. Government then formed an ad-hoc committee with former president of CAN Binaya Raj Pandey as the interim president.
Supreme suspended the ad hoc committee two weeks later, after CAN filed another case against government. The issue is getting even complicated as the Supreme Court pushed the hearing on the issue of December 3 to December 9. The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has voiced their support for the ad hoc committee but the International Cricket Council (ICC) is yet to comment on the issue.
All these issues has paralyzed CAN, and Nepal’s tour to South Africa that is scheduled to start from January 3 could be in danger, as CAN is not allowed to withdraw any money from its accounts. If not solved shortly, the ICC might take a big step against CAN, as it has already warned and listed CAN in its black list. CAN’s officials and the government should quickly think about it, before it leaves a big scar at the face of Nepal Cricket.
