We grew up listening to the infamous phrase: people who play cricket (mispronounced as Kir Ket) are fools, and those who watch are stupid. Despite that, Men’s Nepali cricket team has already registered themselves qualifying to the One Day International (ODI) status.
And they have garnered love and appreciation from all. However, the scenario is not the same for the female cricketers in Nepal.
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Sita Rana Magar, an all-rounder of Nepali National Women Cricket team, says females are playing cricket because they are passionate about the game. She is one of the first members of Nepal's women cricket team that was formed in 2007. She says, “There’s not any earning for the female cricket players expect to some who have joined the police or army’s sports.”
Regardless of the government’s closed ears toward the sports of bat and ball, Magar is hopeful that her all her fellow female cricketers will have earnings from the game too. She expresses, “Many people quit the game because there’s not much earning in the game.”
Magar shared that she wanted to be a footballer but she got attracted to cricket as it was a new game for the women then. She adds, “When I recently got into the sports, cricket for female had just been introduced in Nepal. We as the first female national cricket team went to Malaysia. It was my first time on the airplane too. We won the second position on the first international game participation.”
As Magar has come into this game with big struggle, she believes the hard work really pays off. “We should not give up but keep pushing ourselves,” she states. Sharing that the fielding on the game as her favorite thing, Magar wishes to play against India one day.
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