The Kathmandu streets usually occupied by the burned tires and never ending “anti” demonstrations shall now boast of the majestic welcome and the Victory Parade that National Cricket Team received when they returned home after Division three glory.
Hundreds of Nepali Cricket Lovers adjoined by the “Panche Baja Crew” hired by Cricket Association of Nepal greeted their Champions on their return home at TIA along with representatives from CAN and Nepali cricket team’s sponsors Pepsi Co. and Standard Chartered Bank.
Paras Kadka, captain of the national side and undoubtedly the best player Nepal has ever produced received the most ecstatic reception, when he was carried up by the fans and tossed in the air.
The jubilant fans then followed the team with an ostentatious victory parade-the exhalation of the victory expressed with modified Nepali Folk Songs and Dances. The parade sang and danced as the players acknowledged the splendid reception all the way to Nepal Sport’s Council where the players were felicitated by Minister for Youth and Sports Ram Kumar Shrestha and NSC member-secretary Yubaraj Lama.
“The result in the past year point out that cricket has a lot of potential and the government will support the cricket team to fulfill Nation’s World Cup dream” said Minister Shrestha as he congratulated the team for their glory. Likewise Yubaraj Lama pointed out the necessity of building more cricket grounds- indicating the Mulpani Cricket Ground currently under construction.
The program at NSC was just the start of the honouring program of the day as the national cricket team were then received by chairman of the interim election council Khilraj Regmi at his own place. He thanked the team for achieving such great feat despite limited investment. He pointed out the need of keeping the players healthy and said that the government will take necessary steps to take care of that. He also added that he would direct the sports ministry to complete the Mulpani Cricket Stadium.
The national team were then taken to UCPN(Moaist) party office where they were honored by the party chairman Puspa Kamal Dahal and other party dignitaries like Baburam Bhattarai. The Mulpani Cricket Ground issue sparked conversation at UCPN office once again as Dahal also promised like everyone else to pledge for the completion of Mulpani Ground. The players were rewared with cash of Rs. 25000 each by the UCPN Maoist.
“Invest on Cricket if you really want us to Play World Cup”
Nepali cricket team captain during all the three felicitation programs pointed out the need of investing on Cricket. “Our talent can us only this far, the road to the World Cup will depend the investment and plans the government will put forward” said Khadka during the NSC program. He reverberated at same thing at chairman Kil Raj Remi’s Office and UCPN Maoist party office requesting the concerned authorities to plan right away to keep the momentum going.
Cricket Buzz in All Medias
When team Nepal won the ACC Elite Cup last year, the media houses had absolutely no place for it, But when Nepali cricket team returned home yesterday with Division 3 Trophy the broadcast buzzed cricket the whole day about Team Nepal’s success and the grand reception. The trend continued today morning as well as most of the daily print media( “Kantipur”, “ Annapurna Post” and “Naya Patrika”) had the Photo of Team Nepal’s arrival in the front cover and a other full page dedicated to news about their glory and return.
“I will Try my Best to Get Your Citizehship” Baburam Bhattarai
When Baburam Bhattari was requested by a Cricket fan on twitter (Bijay Upreti) to do something about Shararad Veswarkar’s Citizehship issue Bhattarai replied by saying that he had promised Veswarkar during the felicitation program that I would try my best to get him a citizenship.
Sharad Veswarkar is a top order Nepali batsmen who has been playing for Nepal for over 10 years now, representing Nepal from U-15 to National level. Sharad Veswarkar was born in UAE to Dilip and Himali Veswarkar, Himali is a Nepali Citizen and yet Sharad whose magical century against Fiji enured of Division 4 climb for Nepal doesn’t have his Citizenship. Sharad’s batting has been pivotal in Nepal’s recent performance. He helped Nepal win the ACC Elite Cup last year scoring 37 against UAE in the final. His half century in the recently concluded Division 3 final againts Uganda sealed Nepal’s win.
He has given Nepal countless of trophies at various age levels, his cricket has brought millions of Nepalese people together and yet he is not technically a “Nepali”.
