Nepal's journey to ODI cricket

Nepal captain Paras Khadka details the team's triumphant and magnificent route to ODI status.

This has been such a long, amazing journey for Nepal cricket but playing our first ever One-Day Internationals against the Netherlands is only the beginning.

We have always wanted to get to this point but the challenge is to keep on growing. Eight years ago we were playing in ICC World Cricket League Division Five and now we are among the top 16 nations in the world, with ODI status guaranteed for the next four years.

I hope we can keep this going and continue to grow because our next goal is to become a Test-playing country. We have worked hard for ODI status and the games against the Netherlands are opportunities for us to explore ourselves, enjoy the experience and hopefully put up good performances.It is amazing to think back to how far we have come. Speaking personally, I started playing the game very young at school in Kathmandu. I played all the time – football in the rainy season and cricket the rest of the time.

I didn’t have particular cricket heroes but I did love watching the great Australian teams of a few years back.

I never dreamed at that stage that I could play for my country but destiny had other things in mind! It was only when I was selected at under-15 level that things started to change.

Then we played at the ICC Under-19 World Cup – beating South Africa twice, New Zealand and Zimbabwe – and have played against some of the best players around from the other nations.

One of the happiest days since then was the day – 27 November 2013 – when we beat Hong Kong off the last ball to qualify for the 2014 ICC World T20 in Bangladesh.