Not many know his role during the match, but almost invisible Babe Dai was always the man we, the sports journalists, always look for.
The only official scorer of the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) was always more than ready to tell us about the match details. But all that ended on Saturday’s final of the Region No 1 Biratnagar and Region No 3 Kathmandu as Riddhi Bhakta Pant retired.
“Ya,†he answered me when I asked him if that was his last match. I took a photograph of him scoring, many other sports journalists asked their photographers to lens towards him (probably the first time he got a little focus). When I watched the photos later, I felt he was sad – very sad to leave the game the 59-year-old has been associated with since he was 12.
Pant started playing cricket with Young Men’s Cricket Club, once popular club with Jai Kumar Nath Shah and TB Shah playing. After eight years with YMCC, he went to Gairi Dhara Cricket Club and played more than 13 years. After playing, he started scoring and umpiring.
But a bitter incident during which the spectators beat him up for a run-out decision he resumed scoring and after 18 years of that incident he is leaving cricket. The only thing he got in his career is his nickname – Babe Dai, and nothing more.
Babe Dai’s retirement left Nepal without any official scorer (it was him who pressured CAN to conduct scoring training and produced 11 other scorers before he said good bye). Babe Dai retirement also left us without our dear man to tease whom we always tried to find out mistakes in the scorecards he provided for press.
His contribution of Nepali cricket may be invisible to many, but that doesn’t make it unworthy. Good by Babe Dai.