Paras Khadka

Playing career

Born in Kathmandu, in 1987, Paras Khadka first represented Nepal at the Under-15 level when he played in the Under-15 Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates in December 2002. He played for the Nepal Under-19s the following year, playing once against India Under-19s, and also in the 2003 Youth Asia Cup in Karachi.

In 2004, after playing in the ACC Under-17 Cup in India, he played in his first Under-19 World Cup, the 2004 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Bangladesh. He also made his debut for the senior side that year when he played against Malaysia in the 2004 ICC Intercontinental Cup, also his first-class debut.

Later in the year, he played in the 2004 ACC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur in addition to ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament matches against Singapore, the UAE and Hong Kong. In early 2005, he played in the Repêchage Tournament of the 2005 ICC Trophy,

After a match in the 2005 ICC Intercontinental Cup against Hong Kong, he returned to the Nepal Under-19 team for the 2005 ACC Under-19 Cup, held in Nepal. Nepal won the tournament after beating Malaysia in the final, thus qualifying for the 2006 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka the following February. Nepal won the plate tournament in the World Cup, beating Test-playing nations New Zealand and South Africa along the way.

Returning to the senior side, Khadka went on a tour of Pakistan before playing in the 2006 ACC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur. He also played all four ACC Premier League matches against Hong Kong, the UAE, Singapore and Malaysia that year. He played in the 2007 ACC Under-19 Cup in Kuala Lumpur, which Nepal again won after beating Afghanistan in the final. He also played in the 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup in Kuwait, and captained Nepal in the 2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia, leading Nepal to the tenth-place finish.

Before the 2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup which he captained, he was quoted by the World Cup souvenir program as "arguably good enough to be in the line-up of any of the Test-playing countries".

He also successfully led the country to win the 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division Five.

In May 2012, he went to play for the Ontario Cricket Academy and Club in Canada with the efforts of his national team coach Pubudu Dassanayake for a short four-month spell. He rejoined the club for 2013 season as Vice-captain. In the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, he scored 254 runs in 8 innings at an average of 50.80.

In 2012, Nepal won the 2012 ACC Trophy Elite title in the UAE, where he scored a total of 291 runs at an average of 72.75 and picked up 9 wickets. He also scored his maiden century against Kuwait in the tournament. He was named the Player of the Tournament. Then he led Nepal to win the 2012 ICC World Cricket League Division Four in Malaysia.

He was also name the Player of the Tournament in the 2013 ACC Twenty20 Cup, where he scored a total of 207 runs with an average of 41.40. He led Nepal to win the 2013 ICC World Cricket League Division Three in Bermuda and got qualified for the 2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier in New Zealand. He also successfully led his country to their first World Cup appearance in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, after finishing third in the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in UAE just behind Ireland and Afghanistan.

In 2014 ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh, he scored 41 runs in both matches against Hong Kong and Bangladesh. He became the eighth player in T20I history to a take wicket with the first ball of his career. He set this record against Hong Kong when he took the wicket of Irfan Ahmed . ESPNcricinfo said that he is Nepal's Kapil Dev after he took two catches during the match against Afghanistan in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, which helped Nepal seal the 9-run victory.

In the 2015 ICC World Cricket League Division Two, he scored 185 runs in 6 innings at an average of 30.83 and picked up 6 wickets at an average of 22.83 and an economy rate of 2.63. Nepal qualified for the 2015–17 ICC World Cricket League Championship but failed to secure promotion to Division One and qualification to 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup. Earlier, he scored an unbeaten 123 off 114 balls in a practice match against Eastern Invitational XI, a cricket team of South Africa, when Nepal toured South Africa as a preparation for the tournament in January 2015.

In the World Cricket League, from 2008 Division Five to 2015 Division Two, he has scored 1157 runs in 46 innings at an average of 31.27, with seven fifties.

He was selected in Marylebone Cricket Club squad for the Emirates T20 tournament which was held in March 2015. He scored 137 runs in the Twenty20 International series against the Netherlands at an average of 45.66.

He currently leads the departmental side Armed Police Force (APF) in domestic cricket. APF recently won the National One Day and National Twenty20 Tournaments in Kathmandu.

Personal life

He married his longtime girlfriend Prapti Rajyalaxmi Rana on 26 February 2015.

2010 Boycott

In May 2010, 18 members of the national cricket team, led by Khadka, held a press conference and said they will not play the national league because of the behavior of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). He led the boycott of national league for the second time in April 2014 demanding restructuring of Cricket Association of Nepal and better facilities for players. This resulted in CAN being drawn into controversy of financial mismanagement.

Player of the Series Awards

The following list contains the series in which Paras Khadka has won the Player of the Series awards.

Man of the match awards

The following list illustrates all the matches in which Khadka has won the man of the match award while representing Nepal in international series/tournaments.

Honours

Country

Individual