Hong Kong Crcket: Nepal talent Pratish calls for more elite chances after success
Nepal beat England and Australia at last weekend’s event but chances for them and other associate nations to tackle Test nations are rare
One of the rising stars of Nepalese cricket, Pratish Gharti Chhetri, wants more opportunities for the game’s lesser lights to tackle Test giants.
The left-arm medium pacer bowled brilliantly in Nepal’s shock Hong Kong Cricket Sixes victories over England and Australia. Employing his smart variations and maintaining unerring accuracy, he claimed three wickets in each match, including the prize scalp of Aussie captain Dan Christian.
Nepal lost their quarter-final against Sri Lanka, which the 20-year-old acknowledged “was really disappointing … because we came here to win the tournament”.
However, the positives far outweighed the negatives for Pratish in Hong Kong. He was an outlier as a bowler who thrived in a competition designed for batsmen.
His six overs in the main Cup tournament yielded seven wickets for 71 runs, with Pratish’s economy rate of 11.83 positively miserly in a format where bowlers are content to go at 18 an over.
“It is really tough to be a bowler here: the wickets are flat, the boundaries are about 35-to-40 metres long and you have only four fielders,” Pratish told the Post.
