MUMBAI: The 2015 ICC World Twenty20 qualifiers are less than two months away. Dealing with a right ankle ligament tear, Nepal batsman, Sharad Vesawkar, is in need of a serious rehab programme. He is their finisher. Known for his unflappable temperament while batting in the death overs, some people in the Himalayan state see shades of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Vesawkar after he twice did the impossible at the 2013 qualifiers for the 2014 World T20 Cup. Needing 13 in the final over against Hong Kong in the quarterfinal, Vesawkar smashed the first two balls for a six and a four to clinch it. Earlier, in the do-ordie game against the stronger Kenya, when Nepal needed 18 off the final six balls, he hit three sixes.
Aware of his importance to the team, Vesawkar is desperate to be fit. To get started, the first step is proper rehabilitation for the 26-year-old middleorder batsman. He has been advised complete rest, but it is simply not possible at home in Kathmandu, where almost every day he has to rush out of his house to reach safety when tremors strike. “The aftershocks have been hitting virtually every day. The mind goes blank at that moment and the only instinct is to make a dash for life. There’s no thought of taking precaution,” says Vesawkar, who has flown down to Mumbai to live with his brother and take adequate rest. Vesawkar had got injured on May 8 when he twisted his ankle while running. It was during the second earthquake on May 12 that the rehab went wrong. “My ankle was so badly swollen that it looked like an elephant’s foot. I was resting at home around noon when the walls and floor started shaking vigorously.
I ran down from the second floor and when I reached the safety of the compound I felt a piercing pain. The injury had become worse. The doctor has advised complete rest, but in Nepal you are forced to run almost every day.” When the first earthquake struck, Vesawkar says, he was at a hotel lobby waiting for Prabhakaran, a coach from Goa. “Prabhakaran was in our country in connection with the Nepal Premier League. I had to drop him at the airport when suddenly, as I was reading the newspaper the building started shaking violently,” recalls Vesawkar. In t he after math of t he earthquakes, training facilities in Kathmandu have been destroyed. That is why they will be training at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore from June 5-20 to prepare for the qualifiers in July. Vesawkar says the only international-level stadium in Nepal – Tribhuvan University Cricket Ground – is badly damaged.
“The stadium walls have crumbled, the pavilion building has developed cracks, the floor and walls of the only indoor facility have cracks. Groundsmen have fled to their native homes.” Vesawkar’s brother lives in Andheri, Mumbai. “I have come to stay with him so that I can rest and do my rehab treatment to get fit in time.
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