Mahendranagar. In the third edition of Siddharth Bank Nepal Premier League (NPL) held in Kathmandu, 30 players from Sudurpaschim Province are present. Home province team Sudurpaschim Royals has ten players from Sudurpaschim, including the famous Nepalese cricketer Dipendrasingh Airi.
The players from the home province of Chatur Bahadur Chand, the Central President of Nepal Cricket Association (CAN), are currently in the clash of cricket by being contracted to all the eight teams of the third edition. Birendra Bahadur Chand, president of Kanchanpur Cricket Association and central member of CAN, said that 13 players from Kanchanpur are on the field in NPL, the most in the nine districts of Far West.
“The Far West is not only cricket, but also the player production area of many sports is leading the results”, Chand, a central member of the Cricket Association, said, “It doesn’t matter that the condition of the sports infrastructure is still pathetic.”
He said that although there is a cricket ground in Baitadi, training is being done in other districts.
Sudurpaschim Royals have Vinod Bhandari, Hemant Dhamir Milan Bohra along with Kanchanpur captain Dipendrasinh Airi and Baitadi’s Hikmat Mehra and Deepak Bohra. Similarly, Sachin Bhatt of Achham, Tek Rawatar Ayub Chand of Kailali and Tekraj Thalal of Dadeldhura are in the Royals.
Similarly, Sandeep Zora from Kanchanpur, Sher Malla from Doti, Dinesh Adhikari from Achham and Dilip Nath from Kanchanpur are playing NPL for Lumbini Lions. Kanchanpur’s Vikas Agri and Aditya Mahata are signed to Janakpur Bolts, while Kanchanpur’s Bhim Sarki and Sajan Gautam and Kailali’s famous Jaisi are in Kathmandu Gorkhaz.
Similarly, Lokesh Bam of Doti and Narayan Joshi and Naren Saund of Kailali are playing for Biratnagar Kings in the ongoing third edition of NPL in Kathmandu, while Yuvraj Khatri of Bajhang is playing for Karnali Yaks.
On the other hand, Kamal Singh Airi from Kanchanpur, Arjun Saud and Bipin Rawal from Kailali, Ashok Dhami from Bajhang and Deepak Bohra from Dadeldhura are playing in Chitwan Rhinozma. Similarly, Akash Chand and Kiran Thagunna from Kanchanpur have got the opportunity to play in NPL in Pokhara Avengers.
District Cricket Association President Chand said that Sudurpaschim is producing new talented players every year.
“Most of the players who are currently playing in the NPL have played the previous two editions,” he said, “The cricket craze of the far west has been shown by the spectators from faraway places in the NPL.”
He said that the state should pay attention to the development of cricket infrastructure in the Far West, which is at the forefront of player production.
“It has been a long time since the discussion on Phapla cricket ground in Dhangadhi but it has not been completed”, Chand said, “The cricket ground under construction since 2072 in Mahendra in Kanchanpur is still incomplete.”
Chand says that since the National Sports Council has allocated a budget of 3 crores for the construction of the Mahendranagar cricket ground in the current financial year, there is hope that the ground will be completed.
“The budget allocated for the under-construction ground in Mahendranagar is in the process of being contracted”, he said.