When Sompal Kami walloped a Anrich Nortje delivery in the penultimate over out of the ground, Gyanendra Malla, a former Nepalese player and coach, beamed a smile. It wasn’t just for the quality or audaciousness of the shot under pressure, but for what it symbolised. In April 2016, the ICC had suspended the Nepal cricket association citing the dual existence of the cricket governing body in Nepal and government interference in the election.
Things spiralled out of control in terms of infrastructure, finances, running of domestic cricket and even something as small as a cricket bat. “Without money during that suspension, we couldn’t afford the high-range bats, we had this massive disadvantage. We used to get caught at boundary ropes and in the dressing room, we used to think we didn’t have enough power but later we realised the problem was the bat.
When Kami hit that 105m six against Nortje, it put a smile on my face,” Malla tells The Indian Express . Despite the hardships, the smiles have never left the faces of the passionate Nepalese fans in all these years. Advertisement The fans shielding themselves with umbrellas at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur Stadium.
(Special Arrangement) In 2023, visuals of fans in a Nepal stadium went viral around the cricketing world. Thousands were huddled together, some under umbrellas, others getting drenched but no one left even as rain poured for a while. It was a game against UAE, and the winner w.