KATHMANDU, Feb 24: If all goes well, Spinner Bhuwan Karki will get a chance to train with Indian Premier League (IPL) side Rajasthan Royals for a month. Nepali national team coach Pubudu Dassanayake has arranged the training program for Karki with the IPL side owned by Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.
Dassanayake made the training arrangement using his personal contacts with Rajasthan Royals coach Monty Desai. Dassanayake, who was the coach of Canada from 2007 to 2011, has close ties with Desai, who was the consultant coach of the Canada team during the World T20 Qualifiers held in the UAE last year.
Desai had called Nepali all-rounder Shakti Gauchan to Rajasthan for trial last year after watching the latter´s performance in the qualifiers.
Rajasthan Royals is to start its training camp in Jaipur from March 22. According to Dassanayake, spinner Karki will reach Jaipur by the third week of March and stay there for a month. The sixth edition of IPL is to begin from April 3. Rajasthan will take on Delhi Daredevils on April 6 in its first match of the season.
"All the senior players will be busy in preparations for the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 to be held in Bermuda. Thus, I recommended Bhuwan (Karki) for the training," said Dassanayake. "He is a key bowler of the U-19 team and he is shaping up very well. I hope it will be a good exposure for Bhuwan," he added.
Dassanayake said that training with the team is a big achievement since securing berth in the team on foreign quota is next to impossible for Nepali cricketers.
Dassanayake had informed Karki about the training arrangement on Thursday. "I was surprised to hear about the training arrangement from the coach. It is an opportunity for me to learn cricket at that level," said Karki.
Indian cricket great Rahul Dravid and contemporary world class cricketers like Shane Watson, Brad Hodge and Ajinkya Rahane are in the Rajasthan Royals team. "I want to be spotted by these cricketers. However, I have no particular strategy," said 19-year old Karki, who hails from Dhangadhi.
Karki, who is in the process of joining the Armed Police Force, has already played for the senior and age group national squads. He had played in the ACC U-15 Elite Cup in 2007 in Kathmandu as his international debut. Karki, who played in the ACC U-19, U-19 World Cup Qualifiers, ACC U-19 Asia Cup and U-19 World Cup in the last three years, has claimed 33 wickets in 24 matches at the international level. In his U-19 international career, he has bowled 37 maiden overs and is considered one of the most economic Nepali bowlers.
Karki had debuted in the national squad from the ACC Trophy Elite held in the UAE five months ago.
"I have made an impression of an economic bowler. I enjoy bowling dot balls. I´ll try to repeat the same in Rajasthan," said Karki.
Gauchan, who had trained with Rajasthan last year, said that the training will help Karki as well as the team. "It was an awesome experience for me to train with Rajasthan. I learnt how to bowl to world class players. The training gave me a huge morale boost," said Gauchan.
"Bhuwan (Karki) has a chance to train for a month. I hope it will be a great experience for a young player like Bhuwan (Karki)," he added.
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Desai had called Nepali all-rounder Shakti Gauchan to Rajasthan for trial last year after watching the latter´s performance in the qualifiers.
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