Thursday marked a historic day for Nepal as its cricket team achieved One-Day International (ODI) status for the very first time.
Nepal were locked in a three-way battle with Honk Kong and Papua New Guinea (PNG) to secure the final spot in the list of countries with an ODI status. The Nepalese made the cut after defeating PNG in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers at the Old Hararians Sports Club on Thursday.
Batting first, PNG were bowled out for a meagre 114, with Sandeep Lamichhane and Dipendra Singh Airee picking four wickets each. Nepal got to the target for the loss of four wickets in 23 overs. Dipendra made a healthy contribution with the bat too, slamming an unbeaten 50 to take his side home.
The result meant PNG's ODI status was taken away from them and claimed by Nepal.
Nepal captain Paras Khadka was understably ectatic after his team's triumph. He soon took to Twitter to thank ardent fans for their support.
"Thank you everyone for the support..Just been years and years of toil, persistence, sacrifices, commitment and hardwork..Finally WE BECOME An ODI nation.. Congratulations to everyone who has been part of Nepal cricket's incredible journey .. God Bless," he wrote.
Here's his tweet
Khadka also insisted that proper management was utmost important for Nepalese cricket going forward.
“We need to have a proper management, it is as simple as that. If we can get a proper system and management back at home, cricket is going to prosper. No matter what happens with Nepal cricket, we need a proper management to lead the way forward,” Khadka was quoted as saying by The National.
“As players, we are pushing ourselves, and whatever happens outside we have always known that if we do well on the field, we can hopefully reach somewhere like that. Over the years we have played good cricket. Once we missed out on the Super Six and qualification was out of our hands, we knew we had to focus on ODI status,” he added.
