Know Your Player: When Rohit as a kid saw Paras Khadka in World Cup

As Nepal gear up for their second appearance at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup next month, we look at the interesting anecdotes of all the 15 Nepali players.

This includes how they got into the national team and a point that pushed them into the system leading up to the world cup squad. Today we give you the captain of the Nepali team, Rohit Kumar Paudel, who is into his second year as leader of the Nepali side.

It all started in 2014

Nepal’s maiden Twenty20 World Cup appearance in 2014 in Bangladesh was not only an event that wrote history for the country. It was also a reason that forced thousands of Nepali kids to take up the game seriously.

Rohit was one of them.

The 21-year old was yet to hit his teen when the TV screen showed Paras Khadka sprint towards square leg for a difficult catch to dismiss Afghan batsman Nawroj Mangal.

The catch was compared to India great Kapil Dev’s catch against Vivian Richards in the 1983 World Cup, and a little less than a thousand miles away from Chittagong, where Paras took the catch, a little kid was determined how he was going to shape up his next decade.

One after another local tournament, Rohit got into the age group teams. He was exceptional while leading the U-19 teams.

Rohit was distraught when his side lost to UAE by just one run that deprived them of a qualification to U-19 World Cup in 2019 but the setback was never going to remain forever.  

He rose through the ranks and became the national team captain. He will be the youngest ever captain of the world to lead a side in the Twenty20 World Cups.

Since the last home series against the West Indies A side, Paudel has been in red-hot form with the bat. His batting abilities will be crucial for Nepal’s success in the upcoming World Cup.

Mama’s Boy

If you think that you are a Rohit Kumar Paudel fan and have the account of every run that he has scored, you are WRONG.

Rohit is backed by a supportive family and his mother not only runs the house but also keeps account of every run that he has scored.

Whenever Rohit takes to the field for the country, Rohit’s mother chooses to put the pen and paper together to get his run.

Now one might wonder if he might face a hard time while going home after a duck.

But Relax. Rohit has never been dismissed for a duck in Twenty20 Internationals. He is the seventh player in the world to do so.