After the fall: In Nepal, cricket is ‘uniting the country in a small way’

Students go through bowling practice at the Nepal National Cricket Academy in Kathmandu. Pawan Singh / The National

Former Nepal cricketer Aamir Akhtar sits for an interview in Kathmandu. Pawan Singh / The National

Students take part in drills at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kathmandu. Pawan Singh / The National

A collapsed boundary wall shown at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground after the April 2015 Kathmandu tremor. Pawan Singh / The National

Sourav Singh Pela, a batsman for the Nepal National Academy’s Under 16 side shown during a nets session. Pawan Singh / The National

Students practice at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kathmandu. Pawan Singh / The National

Students practice at the Nepal National Cricket Academy on the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kathmandu. Pawan Singh / The National

Students practice at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kathmandu. Pawan Singh / The National

A worker prepares the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kathmandu. Pawan Singh / The National

Part 1 of a special report from Nepal: Paul Radley explores cricket’s role in the recovery from April’s devastating earthquake. In this dispatch Paul finds that from hoteliers to the national team coach, passions and aspirations for cricket still run deep in disaster’s wake.

KATHMANDU // Late in the evening, the telephone in the corner of the room rings. Front desk is calling.

“Sir?,” comes the young voice at the other end of the line, two floors below. “Another wicket! Kohli is out. I told you, Bangladesh are going to win. Good night, sleep well.”

Standard fare, perhaps, from a zealous hotel worker in New Delhi, or Mumbai, or Chandigarh or even Dhaka.

But this is Kathmandu, the capital of a country best known for being the birthplace of Buddha and home to Mount Everest, not cricket.

Traffic through this guesthouse was low. Tourism, which accounted for 8.6 per cent of Nepal’s annual budget last year, has been down since the April 25 earthquake, with 80 per cent of hotel bookings reportedly cancelled, while this is also the start of the monsoon season.

Uttam Karpi, originally a trekking guide from Ghorka, the region where the earthquake had its epicentre, has been using the spare time he has while working on reception in this Kathmandu guesthouse to indulge his passion: cricket.

India are playing – badly – against Bangladesh and the young man is ensconced in his smartphone, checking online updates. He predicted at the halfway stage of the match that Bangladesh would win. He is a good judge.

His favourite players are Australia’s Shaun Marsh and India’s Virender Sehwag. He is a member of a Facebook group for supporters of the Nepal national team, which has more than 200,000 members. He recently went on a march protesting against corruption in the Nepali cricket administration.

Cricket, it appears, is a growing obsession in Nepal.

Part 2: Paul Radley visits the Tundikhel central park and relief camp, where he finds teens welcoming the distraction of cricket

“There is no end to it”

Nepal’s national team have had a confused build up to this month’s World Twenty20 qualifier in Ireland and Scotland – there are more important things to worry about back home.

Since the first earthquake struck on April 25, nearly 9,000 people have died, more than 800,000 homes have been destroyed and it has been estimated US$6.6 billion (Dh24.2bn) is needed to rebuild infrastructure in the country.

Pubudu Dassanayake, the national team coach, says success on the cricket field will not salve the country’s woe.

He says, though, that his players will be attempting to bring some happiness to their compatriots by attempting to qualify for a second successive World T20.

“The expectations are very high and as a group we want to give that happiness back to the country, if we can,” Dassanayake said.

“I am not saying that it is a solution. But there are so many good things that would happen in the country if we play another World Cup. People will have something to be happy about.

“We are confident we can do well in this tournament. The players are tougher than before.”

Dassanayake played Test cricket for Sri Lanka but is now a Canadian citizen, which is where he was when the first earthquake hit.

“I went back two weeks later and within two days, there was another huge one,” the coach said, referring to the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that hit the country on May 12.

“I was on the road, going back from the ground to the hotel and the car started shaking. The driver told me to get out and go over to a small, open area.

“Buildings were really swaying. It was huge. The second one, more than physically, it hit everybody, mentally, very hard. There is no end to it.

“All through the night there were aftershocks. Every time you hear that, you are curious about it. I was trying to relate to how everyday people must feel. You just cannot relax. It is always on your mind.”

Dassanayake’s hotel was condemned, rather than destroyed, by the second major tremor. He moved in to a new one where a US rescue team were based, then returned to Canada.

“If there was no cricket there was no point in me being there,” he said. “It is all in your mind. The buildings are cracked and you don’t know if they are going to come down.”

“I was downloading cricket videos”

Sourav Singh Pela is 15 and aspires to represent Nepal at cricket, ideally in the style of India’s Virat Kohli, who he tries to imitate, or Subash Khakurel, the Nepal batsman.

“My brothers taught me how to play,” Sourav said. “I used to play on the roof of my house, at night when there was ‘load shedding’ [the regular cuts to the electricity supplies in Nepal]. We used to take a light up there, go and practise, hang a ball down and play shots.”

There was plenty of load shedding during the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh last year “so I went to a hotel where there was power and I knew I could watch”, Sourav said.

“I used to go wherever there was light, knowing I could watch Nepal play. If they weren’t showing it on TV, I would watch live scores on the internet.”

When the earthquake happened, he was downloading cricket videos.

He and his family escaped unharmed, but his closest friend, Manoj Pandit, the No 3 batsman in his team, had died.

“When it happened I got out and went to a safe place with my family,” he said. “It started to shake. We felt frightened and just ran. People were screaming, some were crying, everyone was frightened.

“We had to sit in tents. People were frightened about their homes, their lives, their families.

“I just got to hear that my friend had died after one week, from my friends. I was shocked.”

“We have a reason to fight”

In mid-April, Nepal cricket organised a charity match in tribute to the Australia batsman Phil Hughes, who died after being struck on the neck during a domestic Sheffield Shield match last November.

Part of the reason the match was attended by thousands of spectators at the Tribhuvan University ground was because it doubled as the farewell appearance of Binod Das, the Nepal all-rounder.

Now a lead coach at the National Cricket Academy, Das is confident his erstwhile teammates can deliver World T20 qualification, loaded as they are with incentives to succeed.

“Cricket has been a uniting factor for the last decade or so,” Das said.

“It is one sport that we are doing well at international level in Nepal. We are doing well in cricket and that has brought lots of positivity to people in the country.

“Even people who are outside the country who are concerned about cricket, they want to see Nepal win. They take a lot of pride in our performances.

“I believe we have played a part in uniting the country in a small way. Once we start playing on a bigger stage, the stakes are going to get higher.

“I believe it is our responsibility to keep that hope alive. We have been able to bring smiles to people’s faces and I believe we will continue to do the same.

“We will give our best, as a team, as a nation, and take a lot of pride in our performances wherever they be.

“We are a proud nation when it comes to cricket. We went to the World Cup recently and I see no reason why we can’t do it again.”

Das says Nepal crave regular appearances on cricket’s big stages, having made their debut at last year’s World Twenty20 in Bangladesh. No matter the build up to this qualifying competition, they are focused on success.

“The mindset is not negative at all,” Das said. “They are only thinking about bringing back the glory they had two years back.

“They all believe they have the potential to qualify again. If it has been done once, it can be done twice, or thrice, or maybe for a number of times.

“I know it is not going to be easy as other teams are preparing as well. But we have a reason to fight, we have our people behind us, and I am sure the team will leave no stone unturned because there is a lot at stake.”

“People were united”

Cricket is not the only show in town when it comes to sport in Nepal. Given the need for relatively open, flat land to play it, as well as often fairly expensive equipment, this mountainous nation is not an obvious fit with the sport.

Football, too, enjoys a substantial following. Stars from that game are revered, especially Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been pictured draped in the Nepal flag and attempted to raise awareness of the relief effort.

Cricket, though, gives Nepalese a measure of national self-esteem in sport.

When their national team played at the World Twenty20 last year, it evoked a rare sense of national unity, according to Aamir Akhtar, a former player turned administrator.

“It is always a dream come true for any sports person to have that sort of situation in your hometown,” Akhtar said of the scenes in Kathmandu last year.

“Playing in the World Cup, being live on international television, was an amazing thing for the entire country, not just our cricketers.

“The best part was people were united. Nepal is going through a tough time right now. There has been a lot of political turmoil and there are divisions in this country.

“Cricket was the only thing that got people united: people were carrying flags, people were wearing red and blue, people were talking about patriotism.

“At that moment, the feeling in Nepal was something very different.

“As a cricketer, it was a dream come true to be broadcast on international television, playing against Test countries like Bangladesh, and actually doing well. It was electrifying.”

Akhtar, who is in charge of the Nepal Premier League, the country’s attempt to revamp its elite-level cricket, is confident his former teammates have not been distracted ahead of this month’s qualifying tournament where their campaign kicks off on Friday against the United States at Stormont, Belfast.

“Yes, we went through a natural phenomena with the earthquake we experienced, but at the back of our mind is the feeling we have to pay back to our country,” he said.

“It will be pressure to perform, to do something that will bring back some smiles to the country by having qualified once again.”

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