Can Nepal produce Rahul Dravid and Tendulkar?

This post is written on the eve of Nepal's Cricket match against UAE in ACC T20 Cup. Nepal will play against UAE in one of the semifinals of the ACC T20 Cup on Tuesday, 2 April, 2013.

We wish Nepali Cricket Team all the best and do hope that Nepali Cricket Team wins against UAE in its semi-final of the ACC T20 Cup.

The theme of this blog post is to analyse the future bench strength of Nepali Cricket Team when it is advancing towards more international games.

First of all, I am sure that the readers of this blog do sufficiently know who is Mr. Sachin Tendulkar and Mr. Rahul Dravid! If you are a cricket lover, you know them. If you are not a cricket lover, do not get worried as you will soon know about them.

Let me start with Sachin - the best batsman in the world, the No.1 batsman in the world, Master blaster, little master so on and so forth. Mr. Tendulkar is the world's greatest batsman who was ever born, of course, after the greatest Bradman. Our generation could never see Bradman playing cricket and for us, Master Blaster, the Indian Cricketer - Mr. Sachin Tendulkar who almost at the age of 40, plays cricket is the greatest cricketer of our generation.

Another finest cricketer that we have seen in the sub-continent is Mr. Rahul Dravid. Mr. Rahul Dravid - the wall - is another finest retired cricketer who plays domestic Indian Premiere League ('IPL') captaining Team Rajasthan Royals. He is famously and rightly called the "Wall of Indian Cricket" because of his impeccable ability of defense and stamina to stand on the crease without losing any Wickets especially on the Test Matches. Whenever Indian Cricket Team required a man with solid defending ability, Rahul Dravid was always there.

During our University days, we used to call Mr. Dravid as "Tuk Tuk" Batsman because when ever the bowler bowled at him, we used to hear small "Tuk" sound. Mr. Rahul Dravid did not move out of his crease much. Ball did not travel to much distance after Rahul hit it and Rahul rarely ran for the runs as that was not required.

It could be a boring cricket for many but Rahul Dravid used to display his "Class" every time when he batted. He batted in difficult situations, on difficult pitch, on difficult out-filed and made big partnership and many runs. Rahul Dravid was a man of patience. The another aspect about Rahul Dravid was he was a gentleman. He meant business while batting or fielding. He did the job with precision and kept unnecessary banter out of his way. Hence, such a classy cricketer he was and could any day shut the game plan of the opponent be it in Hyderabad or in Harare or in Headingley. Nevertheless, the gentleman of Cricket was respected and liked by many players from the opponents.

Coming back to the topic from where I started, let us see if we have great Nepali Cricketer or if ever we will have finest Nepali cricketer like Dravid and Tendulkar. My simple answer will be in affirmative. "Of Course, we have finest Nepali cricketer in Nepal or definitely, we will have, why not?", I would say.

But, things are easier to be said than done or made. The possibility is that we can have great Nepali cricketer but there are difficulties to recognize them. If we want to produce great Nepali Cricketer, there are few things those are pre-condition. Cricketers are not produced overnight and to facilitate the process of making great cricketers, we need to invest in infrastructure, training  coaching and more competitive games. Only when Nepal starts playing more crickets with strong international clubs, teams and tournaments, we would know which Nepali Cricketer can become Bradman, which one Tendulkar and which one will be Rahul Dravid. With the consistent performance and performance against fierce bowling and batting unit, we would know whether Nepali Cricket Team shines or perishes.

For the time being, let us hope for the best and wish Nepali Cricket Team that the team as a Unit improves after every match and make us proud. Let us hope that Nepali Tendulkar and Nepali Rahul Dravid are waiting for their debut in bigger matches.

All the best Nepali Cricket Team.