Mehboob Alam is already a golden record book of Nepali cricket; and the 29-year-old allrounder from Rajbiraj put yet another feather on his cap Wednesday by becoming the first Nepali bowler to claim 100 international one-day wickets.
Mehboob Alam bowls against Argentina. Photo by International Cricket Council
On Wednesday at Navile, Italy, when Argentine batsman Grant Dugmore edged Alam to Mahesh Chhetri, little did he know that he was a milestone wicket for the left-arm bowler. Mehboob went on to pick another wicket in his 63rd international match to take his total wicket tally to 101.
“I will consider myself very fortunate if I became the first bowler to take 100 wickets in one-dayers for Nepal,” Mehboob, who only wanted two more wickets to reach the milestone, had said before leaving for Italy. “When I began my international cricket, I never thought I would ever reach near this milestone. But after playing Emerging Nations’ Tournaments in 2003, my wickets count went high and then I thought it could be possible.”
He had 18 wickets from 12 matches before the Emerging Nations Tournaments, but he took 15 wickets in five matches, including 8/23 against Maldives, that boosted his morale.
The turning point of his bowling career came in 2008 in Jersey when he took all 10 wickets in a match against Mozambique — an extraordinary performance that had never happened in ICC sanctioned one-day cricket match before.
Roy Dias, Nepal’s coach for a decade, considered Mehboob’s performance as a big achievement. “This is big achievement for Nepal,” he said.
Mehboob Alam. Photo by International Cricket Council.
And, Mehboob also leads the table for highest number of wides bowled by Nepali bowler — 112 which is much higher than 59 by Binod Das.
To add to these records, he also has top three bowling performances in a match for his country and besides, he is a hard-hitting batsman who has scored 904 runs with an average of 21. His career hit of boundaries is 119, out of which 18 are sixes.
“Batting is a plus-point to my cricket,” he says. “If I had not been a batsman, I would have been out of the team long ago.” Mehboob modeled himself on former Pakistani great Wasim Akram and is a crowd favorite in Nepal. Such is a support to him by home crowd that the curator of TU Cricket Ground — the main cricket ground of the nation named an end on him.
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congratulation mehabub alam. wish u all the best for tomorrow match with USA.
mehboob well done……………..tara aba tapai ko outstanding performance Nepal lai chahin6…………bholi sabai vanda tough game 6 nepal ko lagi ra tysma Nepal ko sabai vanda experience player le jit ko bato kholnu par6………………
mehboob dai go once again for a 10 wicket haul………….
Great job Mehboob. Congratulations. Tonic for tomorrow’s game.
a great server of the nation, a great ambassador, mehboob deserves it..he might have fallen short of form and fitness of late, but he still has his best days ahead..he got the milestone and deserves all the credit for his hard work, discipline and self-belief, the latter for the determination he showed after being axed from the team for making a comeback as a better player..hope to see his best soon, may be against USA..good luck
u r de best mehboob,u r the great ghorkhali son n we proude off u,hami chahanchau 20agust ko match ma temro bat le 100 banaoos,best off luck dae,we love uuuuuuuuuu
All- rounder Alamle 100 wicket ko record kayam garne first cricketer huna safal vayekoma badhai 6. Alamle batingma pani 1000 run hannu par6. keep it up
keep it up brave player
keep it up yr……
Aja ko match ma arko record banaunu par6 eutai game ma century hanera ra 10 wicket liyara. Go ahed Mehaboob be confidence and play well. Best of luck!
*Good Fortune Be With You*
congratulation mehabub alam. wish u all the best for tomorrow match with USA.
Now you have to play crucial role aganist USA.
Congrats! and all the best for today’s match. Today’s match is very much important for future of nepali cricket. A win today will not only take us to div 3 but also ensures that there won’t be any USA threat in div 3. I think it won’t be tough there for us to reach to div 2 as there won’t be any UAE, Afganisthan or USA as our hurdle. Then, in div 2, what we have to do is to remain in top 4 and we can do it. That’s all, we’ll be then playing in World Cup qualifiers……we may or may not qualify for WC but it will definitely take our cricket to a huge height ensuring exposure as well as opportunities for our players. They can play for foreign clubs and brighten their future. This will create a sort of mass attraction towards cricket and new players will huge potentials will emerge. Our cricket will then never die.. But, a defeat today will push nepali cricket years back. Our present potential players may disappear and no new would like to be involved in it though he has talent. Our cricket then may not revive back… See how important is today’s match…go guys…think of your nation…think of your future….think of hundred thousands of your supporters back home…realize your responsibilities and..play….i know you guys won’t disappoint us.
congratulation mahabub keeping record of nepali cricket. Keep it up
Mehbob aj century haner nepal ly jitaunu!
Good to see a bowler from Nepal getting 100 wickets. Well done!!
1st of all i would like 2 give congratulation 4 mr Alam 4 bcoming 1st nepalese bowler 2 take 100 international wkts.may b he can achieved 150-200 wkts 4 nepal.but while analysing his performance we feel the number of wickets he has taken r against weak teams.he should show his briliantness againt strong teams like UAE AFGANISTAN USA HK.against these stromg team M Alam fail to take more wkts or he fail 2 give nep early breakrhrough.he has taken wkts morely lbw n bolds.i think his stump 2 stump bowling less impress 2 big teams.he is greate bowler so he have time 2 show his caliber against good teams n win more trophies 4 nepal.
congratulations mehboob dai for your 100 wickets. Havent seen your sixers since long time so dai aja chai batting ma chamkera afu lai laden samjera usa ko tower futaidinu
alam hit the six in last match againest Italy which is the wining run for nepal. same case happened in the final of World cricket leage div 5 againest USA. Alam hit the six and nepal win the match by this six run. i hope today also he hit the six and nepal win the match.
lau USA le toss jitio yar. bad luck for nepal
Let see Dilip, Don’t say bad luck for Nepal because anything happen in cricket
This is what MANDAL said in the presentation yesterday………….Man of the match Mandal was pleased that his side shrugged off the batting failures from the previous games. “I think we batted well compared to the previous two matches and I’m happy I was able to contribute to the team score. I felt we needed to see the new ball off first and once we’d settled in, I felt I could go back to my basic skills and hit the ball freely to put the runs on the board. I think we have to be even more focused tomorrow for the USA, they will come back stronger and we have to be ready to take on their bowling attack and ultimately claim victory,” he said.
match start vayo hai kta ho
la kta ho aja nepal ko lagi ramro comment matra hai..hamro ramro comment le jitauna help garchha