Sarita Giri
Cricket is my favorite game. I was hooked to sports from my childhood. I participated in a lot of sports activities. Cricket and hockey were two games I was good at. As I was equally good with the bat, ball and even in the field. As an all-rounder my place in the team was almost permanent. We formed teams form among the neighborhood girls at home while at school too we had our own team.
Cricket for me is a beautiful game which can hold the attention of all kinds of people with it variety. Some simply love to see the fours and the sixes. While others are simply fascinated with the art of bowling. With more emphasis given on fielding some days a magnificent catch or a run out can be the best part the of match too. Whenever fielding is mentioned Johnty Rhodes’s name come to my name. But for me the sound that comes when the ball connects with the bat is the most beautiful part of cricket.
When I was in Patna, we would form a group form among our colony friends and play cricket. This trend continued until I reached college. At that time we were crazy about Sunil Gavashkar, Ravi Sasthri, Sandeep Patel, Bishwonath. Among the present players I like Sachin. Why only me I guess on cricket lover can remain indifferent to Sachin’s batting. Sourav Ganguly is also a good cricketer.
India and West Indies are my favorite team. With both the teams not performing in the tournament I am rooting for Sri Lanka now. With both Pakistan and India making an early exit the burden of Sub-Continent expectation rests on the shoulders of the mighty Lions.
I am amazed at the discussions that are still going about India’s loss too Bangladesh. What we must understand here is the fact that Bangladesh too have a long history of cricket and there too people are crazy about cricket. Talking about cricket our joiner boys too have been performing well. Somehow we must find a way to convert this success to the senior team as well. I guess the corporate houses can help here by sponsoring the players.
Sitashma Chand, Miss Nepal 2007
Cricket is not a new game among the Nepali audience any more. The success our cricket team has managed to achieve so far has increased its popularity even more. We can also hear people at tea shops discuss the recent match. We can also hear people waiting for the bus talking about the runs scored and fall of wickets. Every other TV channel seems to be telecasting cricket match all the time. It’s almost impossible to escape this cricket environment. This is exactly how my interest in cricket developed.
But the longevity of the game prevents me from watching it as much as I would like to. However I am proud to say that I am aware of all of its complicated rules. I know of quite a few people who despite claiming to be keen observer of the game do not know all of its rules. Knowing the rule makes the game even more exciting.
Preparations of Miss Nepal prevented me from watching the World Cup so far. I do not have a particular favorite team for this tournament however Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara are my favorite batsman Likewise, I like the Pakistan’s pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar. Other things apart his run up alone mesmerizes me. Matches between India and Pakistan are extremely competitive.
Cricket is an unpredictable game. Bangladesh and Ireland have kept this aspect of the game alive in the tournament so far. Bangladesh’s win against South Africa brought back the memories of our under ?19 team’s sweet win against South Africa. I wish Bangladesh could somehow make it to the semifinals. As we must realize the fact that India and Pakistan alone cannot carry the burden of the entire sub-continent on their shoulders. So far Sri Lanka has also done well. But going by it’s performance in the tournament I guess Australia will grab the cup this time too. As none of the participating teams have been able to challenge it so far.
Sugarika K.C., Miss Nepal 2006
Everyone is busy cheering up for their favorite team and why not after all this is the world cup, the biggest cricket tournament. My support goes to the most balanced team, Australia. Going by the performance of the Australian team so far has increased my hope tenfold.
The time difference between the host and us has made it difficult for us to watch all the matches. What with the game itself being so long and starting late as well.
Even at other times I hardly get to watch the entire game. My only complain is that a game as beautiful as this takes such a long time to complete. Comparatively, I like the twenty-twenty version better. I strongly feel that format of the game will succeed in bringing even more audiences.
Coming back to the World Cup the early exit of the two neighbors India and Pakistan has cut off the spark off the world cup. In my opinion people in Nepal keep a keen interest in India’s performance. I don’t mean to say all of them are Indian supporters yet they follow India’s game keenly. So in a way India’s early exit has cut off their favorite topic of discussion. Talking about India, I like Rahul Dravid, but there is no doubt about the fact that Sachin Tendulkar is the best in the world.
Nepal too seems to have taken up the passion for the game cricket, which has brought good results in age group tournaments. I guess with combined effort from team management and players we will be able to see Nepal competing with the likes of India, Pakistan, Australia and the likes in a few years time. I wish our boys all the best.
Richa Ghimire
I am interested in sports. Unfortunately cricket is not my cup of tea. I remember watching the football world cup recently. Due to the time difference we had to stay awake all night to watch the matches and what fun it was. Well you can laugh all you can but the first time I really watched a full cricket match was in the movie Lagan. Had it not been a movie I would not have watched it at all. But the match was indeed interesting.
The fact that it’s such a time consuming sport with loads of rules is the reason behind my disinterest in watching the game. At home dad watches the cricket. Even though I am not very familiar with the game it is not the case with the cricketers. Wasim Akram, Yubaraj Singh, Zahair Khan and Irfan Pathan are some of the cricketers I like. The irony is that I know more about the advertisement they feature in than their career records. Over a decade cricket has progressed so much that no that no matter how you try you cannot escape from it. We can now associate cricket with glamour now.
Cricketers from our country too feature in advertisements. Age group achievements have been superb but due to reasons know best to them our senior team has been unable to do the same. I wish our cricket all the best and hope to see them play in a world Cup in the near future.
Ram Kumari Jhakri
Predicating the world cup winner is not an easy job. The task becomes tougher when you know the teams involved. Moreover I firmly believe that the best team must win. After all no use waking up all night to watch a dull game. I haven’t been able to watch all the games due to my workload. My brothers and sisters have followed the world cup closely. I update myself through them. I do plan to watch the games thoroughly once I wrap up my work.
Bangladesh and Ireland have been successful in surprising everyone by winning against India and Pakistan, respectively. I am sure few would have expected such upset this early in the tournament. I am overjoyed with the new comer Ireland’s performance. All this has left me hopeful that our boys too will follow their footstep and knock out a few test-playing nations. I am sure given proper training and commitment from both the Sports committee and players our boys can do it in near future. If only we could convert the success achieved by the age group teams into our senior team!.
Sports have always been able to attract youth. Through it we can mobilize our youth in the right direction. So far we have been unable to use sports constructively.
Our society still believes that sports is a men’s world. Women are hardly accepted as spectators. Our sisters have put on the gloves and been appreciated by all sectors. This indeed is something to cheer about. Women cricketers too should get proper coaching.
I cannot do without mentioning India while talking about cricket. The country has enough problems within the country, form religion to language. But their entire problem dissolves and the country unites to cheer for their team. My belief is, we too could use sports to bring out the best from our citizens.
– Pratichya Dulal
