The Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh has been nothing short of a roller-coaster ride for Nepal. If their win against New Zealand was the show of intent, their triumph over Ireland to secure quarter-final qualification proved they were not in the tournament, to merely make up the numbers. They meant business, and how.
The mantra of 'nothing to lose and everything to gain' was in full force, and when they arrived at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka for Monday's clash against India, the mood and mindset was to give one of the tournament favourites a tough fight.
The match, however, did not go as per plan as a seven-wicket defeat followed. The loss did not hamper their quarter-final participation but the nature of utter dominance from India, gave them a vital reality check and may have even dented their confidence.
For an emerging team like Nepal, confidence could be a vital driving force and a result like this is bound to push them back by a couple of steps. Under such delicate circumstances, a brief interaction with Rahul Dravid, on the sidelines of the match, may have come as a timely tonic for the Nepal boys. While the Indian team players, all smiles, gave interviews and posed for team selfies, Dravid walked over to the other side and gave the opposition a massive reason to keep their chins up.
"I am very happy to have met him. He is such a big cricketer, and he gave us such motivation. It felt really good," gushed Aarif Sheikh, the vice-captain of the Nepal side.
Dravid's was not a mere token meeting and a solitary pat on the back, but also involved a valuable lesson, one that could hold the side in good stead in the knockout game. "He said that we should have rotated the strike better. Against a good team, 160 or 170 is not a good score. If it was 220 or 225, then they (India) wouldn't have played like this. The way they attacked in the first ten overs, they wouldn't have done that. He said that we didn't rotate strike in the middle. Our Under-19 team hasn't met with any big stars. I have met Gautam Gambhir. But didn't get to have a chat with him, only got a handshake." said Aarif, showcasing the importance of Dravid's simple gesture and how it meant the world to his side.
It also took just this brief meeting for Aarif to quickly introspect on what transpired in the day. Batting at No. 5, he got caught up and took 44 balls for his 26 as the pressure continued to pile on. "The fact that I played maximum dots, if I could've converted those into ones, it would've been better," he said.
Jagat Tamata, Nepal's head coach, shared Dravid's insight into Nepal's early mistake in the game. "He spoke about the importance of strike rotation. "He said, it was not necessary to go for the shots early in the innings, and said it is important to keep the scoreboard moving without having to look for boundaries in the middle overs," said Tamata."I had met Rahul earlier when the senior Nepal team was in National Cricket Academy in Bangalore once. He recognised me. He is a good man, and I am sure his words would have helped the boys to pick up the lessons and implement in the future games."
The Indian bowlers stifled the Nepal batsmen early on, forcing them to try and smash their way out of trouble. Their attempt, however, was futile as they ended up throwing their wickets away regularly and the bowlers had to try and defend a paltry total.
As in life, learning from one's own mistakes is a vital trait in cricket, to keep the progression going. Despite the heavy defeat, Nepal will head back to the drawing board with a renewed sense of vigour and a specific aspect of their game to improve upon. While they're at it, there will be a sense of added encouragement amongst them for having been put on the path of betterment by one of the best in business.
Source : Cricbuzz
