Nepal and its development in T20 Worldcup

Instead of bringing in professional players from other nations as has occasionally happened, Nepal's progress in cricket has been spontaneous.

The sport enjoys enormous popularity there, and the team is composed of local players. Additionally, domestic cricket is highly followed, much like it was in 1960s and 1970s India.

Patwal attributes this ascent to the team's illustrious leader Khadka, who he claims has an equivalent reputation in Nepal as MS Dhoni does in India, if not a "slightly larger" one. From 2008 until 2019, Khadka led the Nepal cricket team.

"The children may not be familiar with the name of Nepal's prime minister, but they will tell you everything there is to know about Paras Khadka," adds Patwal. 

But for the Nepal national team, the past few years have been quite the rollercoaster. The Cricket Association of Nepal was suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2014, two years after they qualified for their first-ever T20 World Cup, due to alleged government meddling.

Nepal eventually made it out of the quagmire, making it to the Asia Cup the previous year and now playing in the T20 World Cup again. It's quite an accomplishment for Nepal to be participating in their second World Cup. After a ten-year break, we are performing on the international scene," remarks Khadka.

"Most people didn't think we had a chance when we played the World Cup qualifier in Dubai in 2013." Nobody would really think we belonged. 

We played in the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in 2014, and when we returned, the affection and kindness we experienced felt like we had won the World Cup! Everybody in the nation was out on the streets greeting us, according to Khadka.