PURNA LAMA, the Nepal team manager, is awfie fond of these shores.
His sister once had her heart stolen by a wandering Scotsman who had ventured out into the Himalayas seeking to learn the local mysteries, and he soon whisked her off her feet and back to Edinburgh, where they both live still. Lama's affection for all things tartan, though - he has made the long trek to visit several times - will be forgotten during today's vital ICC T20 World Cup qualifying square-off in Dubai.
Cricket has exploded out from the India basin in the past 30 years. Pakistan was long besotted, of course, having hosted its first match in 1935, a dozen years before the country was even formed. But the flowering of Sri Lanka as a willow-wielding nation came half a century later, and at the turn of the millennium Bangladesh joined the island nation in being granted Test status. Lama believes his country - which shares a thousand miles of border with India's fervour - will be the next.
"From a geographical perspective, a cultural perspective, any perspective which affects our life and our interests, Nepal should be a prominent cricketing nation," says Lama. "If you look into the recent rise of cricket and the craze, the fan following, the areas around India have been coming up very strong. Without fans it wouldn't survive. Even in Abu Dhabi . . . we played [Denmark on Friday] and there were about 2000 people there."
Nepal have won both of their opening matches to announce themselves as the surprise team of the tournament. They also have in captain - and nascent superstar - Paras Khadka, a player who can grab hold of games and twist them to his singular will. Khadka has top-scored in three of their four tour matches so far at a blistering strike-rate, including an astonishing 31-ball 54 on Saturday to drag his team to a successful chase of Kenya's 182 with just two balls to spare.
"He is tough," says Lama. "Talent-wise, he's right there. He just hasn't got the right exposure. We were in Delhi, played matches there and again he was the highest scorers. He's able to face any crisis. In fact, he's a crisis man. On Friday we were nought for two when he came in [against Denmark to lead the team to victory]."
Pubudu Dassanyake, the Nepal team coach, agrees. "He is one of the best players in the associates," he says. "Nepal is lucky to have a captain, a knowledgeable captain, like that. But there is a lot of talent around him."
Other than a handful of players who play for the armed forces team in the national league, none of the squad members have jobs. They are paid only a cursory wage but Dassanyake, a Sri Lankan who spent four years coaching Canada, is delighted with the dedication of his charges. "They are always available," he says. "Everyone is available because they have given up every other thing for the game. They are training like a professional bunch but they don't get paid like it."
"Of all the associates, Nepal is the easiest to grow into a full member because the interest is there. At the last tournament - the ACC Twenty20 Cup - every match we played [in Katmandu] there were over 15,000 watching on the grass banks.
"It's like Sri Lanka or India," he continues. "The game is crazy and everyone wants to play. Every little kid wants to play cricket. But there's not enough organised tournaments. So, we are working on it."
They are doing something right. The team are staying in the luxurious Chelsea Tower Hotel, which stretches 49 storeys up into the dusty Arabian air. But how high have Nepal set their sights? "We want to qualify," Dassanyake says, firmly. "We have that capacity. But it all depends on how we perform in the big games." Starting today.
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