Sharad Vesawkar was omitted from the preliminary squad for the World Cricket League Division 5 and was the last minute inclusion after a pull-out. He wanted to prove decision of his exclusion wrong and he did it perfectly.
Sharad Vesawkar hits century. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
Sharad scored an unbeaten century, only third in Nepal’s history of one-dayers with a skill and form that reminded many of his talents and potential. His century brought Nepal a 193-run victory over Fiji at the TU Ground.
On record books, Sharad’s knock counts as 105 not out from 134 balls with eight fours and two sixes but it meant a lot more to the Kathmandu youngster. His celebration to century, pointing his name at his shirt by his bat, was to request the selection commands to remember his name.
Sharad Vesarkar celebrates his century. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
The victory in the match, however, did not ensure the qualification to the finals and the Division 4. The 99-run victory of Singapore over United States of America (USA) means the tournament is still wide open going on the final day on Friday.
Sharad’s century helped the team reach 267/7 in 50 overs. Jersey were bowled out for 74 in 26.4 overs.
This is the only third instance that a Nepali batsman scoring a century. Earlier, Raju Khadka had scored unbeaten 105 against Bhutan at the TU Ground in 2003 Emerging Nations Cup and Shakti Gauchan had scored unbeaten 106 against Italy in Malaysia in 2005 World Cup Qualifying Series II.
Third half-century for captain Paras Khadka in the event. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
Paras played yet another blazing innings scoring 75 off 91 balls – his third half-century in four matches of the event that consolidated his top position as the leading run scorer with 233 runs.
The innings of Sharad and Paras overshadowed a wonderful bowling effort by left-arm spinner Basanta Regmi who took second consecutive haul of four wickets. However as the Fiji’s innings was a drab part of the match, his 4/11 – identical to his figure a day earlier against Bahrain, went unnoticed.
Basanta too is proving the event a good one for him personally as he went atop the leading wicket-taker with 11 wickets in four matches. During batting, he scored quickfire 27 off 19 after Paras was out giving a catch at mid-wicket
The partnership of Paras and Sharad came after Nepal went down 35/3 with openers failing once again and Shakti Gauchan getting out without scoring.
Shakti contributed through bowling taking 2/7. Pacers Mehboob Alam and Binod Das claimed a wicket each. For Fiji, T Sorovaktini (13), M Gauna (13 not out), captain J Rika (11), S Ravoka (10) and I Cakacaka (10) got some runs. J Rika entertained with a six and a four off Binod in consecutive balls before skying at mid-on for a catch.
Support as usual for Nepal. Photo by NepalSportsPhoto.com
“It is one of the best innings I have seen in a long time,” coach Roy Dias said on Sharad’s century. “Today, he showed his class and to do it at TU is a great thing.”
Dias also praised Sharad for playing according to the need of the situation. “He supported Paras well early,” he said.
Paras added that Sharad innings had come under pressure. “He was under pressure to perform,” he said. “He proved his talents and I hope he will continue.”
Fiji captain J Rika commented that he played poorly and did not deserve to win. “We gave away wickets, we did not deserve to win,” he said.
Although Nepal went atop the points table, Friday’s match against USA will be important because unless Nepal beat USA, the two teams and Singapore can finish on equal points and net run-rate can come into play to determine top two teams.
Singapore defeats USA to make it wide open
Victory for Singapore. Photo by ICC.
Singapore’s Jackie Manoj-Kumar secured the side’s fourth victory of the tournament after taking 4-23 and making sure Friday’s matches are integral to who will win promotion to Pepsi ICC WCL Div. 4.
Marvan Atapattu’s men amassed 267 runs in the first innings at the Engineering Ground with Narender Reddy making a half-century while Pramodh Raja fell just five runs short of the 50-mark.
USA captain Steve Massiah attempted to lead the way for his side with a hard-fought half-century but the team failed to fire and Manoj-Kumar’s bowling was too strong.
Coach Clayton Lambert said of the defeat: “We have been playing so well but everybody can have an off day. We still think we can beat Nepal and I am hoping our guys can lift themselves and put in the kind of performance that I am looking for.
“Playing Nepal is a challenge that we are looking forward to. We came here to get some revenge on Nepal and Jersey, but it seems that against Nepal on Friday we will have to be cooking on all cylinders.”
Man of the match Manoj-Kumar said: “We now have a good chance of gaining promotion after today’s win and we are looking forward to Friday. I wasn’t surprised that we defeated the USA as we batted well and posted a good target and then bowled well and caught all our chances.”
Jersey succumbed to a 27-run defeat, to hand Bahrain its first victory of the tournament. The WCL Div. 6 runner-up had a star performer at the Army Ground in the form of Qamar Saeed.
Saeed’s 50 not out was accompanied with impressive bowling figures of 6-33 and earning the 38-year-old the man-of-the-match award.
A mention must go to the valiant efforts of Jersey captain Ryan Driver who made 80 runs in the side’s attempt to chase down the target of 264 set by Yaser Sadeeq’s men, but his efforts were in vain.
Driver said: “Today our fielding let us down and our bowling just wasn’t in the right areas and they made better use of the PowerPlay. We restricted them to 260 and I really felt it was a target we should have got.
“We’re hoping to put the things we’ve learned in the last four games into practice against Singapore as there is no way I want us to go home only winning one game out here.”
Friday’s final round-robin matches see Nepal face USA at Tribhuvan University, Jersey take on Singapore at Engineering Ground and Bahrain play Fiji at the Army Ground.
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welldone guys!
but stiil not sure for final unless some miracle happens!!
the way sarad celebrated century showing his name plate in t-shirt is against the sportsmans spirit,it shows he is very very arrogant person!!!
Sarad and i went to high school together..and i played with him…probably you don’t know why he did what he did…He is the same guy who was taken off the team….If you don’t know CAN’s diplomacy and politics..may be you should go out there and learn..how they work…I am just glad Sharad..scored a ton….! He is a great player who plays with passion…!!!
Great knock brother…..Keep it up
U r d most inspirational n influantial captain nepal ever had bro.. We fans miss u a lot..
Nepal is playing a game which they have to win. Possibly this may be the scenario if they’re drafted to WC4 and onwards … And It definitely gona’ test the Coach, Captain and their game plan as well as performance from all the players and their expertise. And to win a vital match you need to be serious on every aspect of the game.. Good Luck Nepal
Nepal do not necessarily need to win.Nepal’s net run rate is 1.9 whereas USA’s NRR is 1.3 and Singapore’s 1.1.A close defeat will be more than good enough for Nepal.If USA bat first they need to beat Nepal by at least 60/65 runs, if Nepal bat first and say score 220/225 USA have to get there by 37/38 overs.So Nepal is somewhat safe than the other two teams.
Impressive victory.. Sharad has proved himself with this maiden century. Raju Khadka played a captain’s role and is growing more as a matured player. Good Luck for the upcoming match against USA. They are strong but Beatable hehe..
A score of above 200 + was required to pep up the net run rate and also to be in tune with the capability of posting such a total when need arises as and when required. Once again, the crisis man for Nepal in the form of their captain Paras Khadka; who has been in a phenomenal touch along with the company of stylish Sarad Vesawkar going hammer and tongs destroyed hapless Fijian bowling in a truimphant manner. Once the score 267 was put on the board, it was a foregone conclusion regarding the outcome of the match. In this tournament, Nepal proudly enjoys the arsenal of a lethal bowling attack and thinking of overhauling the target was a pipedream. Restricting Fiji to just 79 in 26.4 overs whereby winning the game by a margin of 188 runs tells the story.
No words of praise will justify the glorious innings played by Paras Khadka either in the previous game or in this one. His batting is really a treat to watch. Having said this, the opening pair has once again come as a cropper despite another opportunity given to them. Mehboob Alam and Dipendra Chaudhary seem to be awfully out of touch and going through bad phase and for tomorrow’s very important game against USA; the think tank will be at wit’s end whether to continue or do some reshuffling. Now, considering the tussle for 2 final slots among Nepal, USA and Singapore, the margin of error is minifying. So, a need has arisen to reshuffle the batting line up. It is advisable either Shakti or Gyanendra is brought up the order. However, as the think tank may not want to tinker with the winning combination, the option of drafting in replacement for Dipendra Chaudhary, Mehboob or Gyanendra would be a matter of discussion. In my opinion, Dipendra and Mehboob’s failure could be attributed to their mental make-up rather than the batting technique. It seems they are unnecessarily putting extra pressure on them and curbing their natural way of playing coupled with at times impetuosity also getting better off them. Let’s see, what solution Coach Roy Dias has up his sleeves to this problem. One wonders despite the failure of opening pair Nepal’s middle order has really come up time and again rescuing the team from dire straits in convincing ways. The body language of Paras Khadka, Sarad, Basanta, Sanjam and Shakti looks very impressive and this is doing wonders to the team’s cause.
I hope in tomorrow’s game against USA the other team members will also draw inspiration from these players and put up improved performance. USA’s forte lies in their batting which revolves around Steve Massiah, R.A. Marshall, Lennox Cush and A.Thyagarajan whereas bowling department is not so menacing. However, the deadly batting combination of R.A. Marshall and Lennox Cush can turn around the game due to their super hitting abilities. In their last game against Singapore, these 2 musketeers’ failure brought about the downfall. So, Nepal has to be wary of these 2 dangermen and plan out their early dismissals. All the same, the game against USA should be a fascinating one as Nepal’s bowling prowess and USA’s batting strength would be put to the acid test. The one who triumphs would be the eventual winner.
Regarding Sarad’s knock, though he was getting the starts like 30s in earlier games, he could not convert it into bigger ones. But in Paras Khadka’s company he grew in confidence and smacked his maiden century at the senior level that too in a World Cup League Game. The sidelining him from the original squad was a tactical blunder which I had mentioned some time back when the squad was selected for this WCL DIVISION-5. Any way, Paresh Lohani’s withdrawal has proved blessing in disguise for Sarad. Congrats Sarad for this fantastic century and I said before re-reading your favourite novel ” The Alchemist ” would do wonders and your batting performance in this tournament suggests it certainly has worked for you. I hope you will continue in the same fashion.
Best of luck boys for tomorrow’s important game………………
@cricketfan: I know Sharad personally and i like him being arrogant. What have CAN have done for the cricketers?? Nothing. He was not in the team in the beginning stating that he is not in form or he is not performing but thanks to Paresh for dropping out so that Sharad was able to show his talent in his home ground.
There is a reason for Paresh to drop out too. He was playing good but was rested for quite a few games. We dont play in Nepal to make money. It a passion for cricketer to play for the country. There should be no one raising fingers to the players. It s the players who made Nepali cricket not CAN. Please note that.
Take atleast 25 cricketer and provide them 10 lacks each year, take them in central contract and groom them.
about today’s match with USA
PRESURRE MAY TO HUM KHADE BHII NAHII RAHYE SAKTEE…. OUR BATSMEN WILL PERFORM POORLY IN PRESSURE MATCHES
I have been following Nepal Cricket for a long time and it’s the same story every day when it comes to batting. We really do need a batting coach and a team psychologist who can work with the team, especially batsmen to boost their morale and confidence. We all know cricket is also a mind game and the players need to fit not only physically but mentally. Actually mental preparedness precedes the physical one. We need a to analyse each player’s personality/behaviour and find out how they handle pressure and who is/isn’t good at handling it.
Hope we make it to the top and hopefully we see you guys here in Aus in next world cup. But seriously Cricket Nepal needs to allocate resources to create a speacialist batting coach and team a psychologist.
Jai Nepal
if nepal loses n us win around 40th over. does nepal have chance to qualify
Nepal is playing a game which they have to win. Possibly this may be the scenario if they’re drafted to WC4 and onwards … And It definitely gona’ test the Coach, Captain and their game plan as well as performance from all the players and their expertise. And to win a vital match you need to be serious on every aspect of the game.. Good Luck Nepal before time indian with nepal storong play chance thanks paras captan nepal