Hard-hitting Nepali cop Airee looks to handcuff World Cup bowlers

Nepals Dipendra Singh Airee is a 24yearold policeman dubbed The Tiger who hopes to use his recordbreaking batting skills to boost his nation at the T20 World Cup 2024 Last September Nepals victory by a staggering 273 runs against Mongolia was the biggest margin by runs in all T20s but Airees astonishing part in that win included the fastest T20 fifty in just nine balls The rising star smashed sixes from each of the first six balls he faced before completing his quickfire halfcentury to beat the previous record of 12 balls Then in April against Qatar he became the third man to hit six sixes in a single over in a T20 international But he has also shown himself to be a stellar fielder pulling off sensational catches and spectacular run outs and hopes to provide a performance to make his Himalayan nation proud I will do my best to play a role to make the team victorious Airee told Nepals Kantipur Television earlier this month I get motivated by the support I get from everyone he added They call me by the name tiger and that motivates me further It makes me want to do as much as possible to give my 110 percentNepal head to the 20nation World Cup sitting a lowly 17th in the ICC rankings but Nepals chief selector Dipendra Chaudhary said Airee could make all the difference His offspin bowling is among the finest Chaudhary told AFP His fitness work ethic and team spirit stand out I believe when we look back he will be counted as one of Nepals best players in history Chaudhary added He is very talented and hardworking He began his career as a mediumpaced bowler before transitioning into a batsman and now serving as an allrounder Airee said he was very happy to be going to the World Cup recalling how he watched the last tournament from Nepal on a giant screen projected in a market When we qualified I was crying from the bottom of my heart he told Kantipur in an interviewAlso ReadFar from IPL bowlers set to lord over batsmen at World CupHumble and mediashy Airee first played in the 2016 Under19 World Cup He was raw but remarkably gifted he was noticed by the system at a young age Chaudhary said adding that the policeman has a natural shy demeanour He is extremely humble and speaks very little he said He is very ethical in his work and spends most of his time on the ground The T20 World Cup 2024 begins Saturday cohosted by the United States and West Indies with Nepals first game on June 4 in Dallas We have prepared enough for the World Cup but frankly other teams are better than us Chaudhary said But it is a game and we hope for good games and a good performance Nepals preparation had been overshadowed by a push to include controversial star Sandeep Lamichhane in the squad after the exskipper and spin bowler was denied a US visa Lamichhane 23 was once the poster boy for cricket in Nepal but was not included in the original squad because he was convicted of raping a young woman in a Kathmandu hotel in 2022 His eightyear sentence for rape was quashed on appeal this month Nepal will play their first two group games in the United States followed by two in the West Indies More than a win or loss we are preparing for the teams to play good cricket Chaudhary added In the future that will help us have big nations come and play on our turf or invite us That will be the biggest winWith agency inputs