Number 19 is not just a number by its definition or value; it is something that is worth explaining. A lot of historical events or year revolves around this beautiful 2 digit of Mathematics. Listing all those, in these ugly little jumbling words arranged into a significant phrase would be close to impossible. Yet, controlling the emotions out of my conscious brain would also be tough. Hence, the dilemma would yield a piece that would surely be better than a lot.
Turning the pages back into the history of mathematics, 19th Century provided a foundation of some astounding theories of Gauss in the field of geometry, foundations of Algebra as well as the convergence of series. This was the era when Mathematics became more and more abstract.
More than anything that caught my mind was a significant thing which came out of mathematics was a single perpendicular line that behaved as a common one in all three types of geometry that were propounded in this era of numbers. A common perpendicular, which behaved as one in all forms of Hyperbolic, Euclidian and Elliptical geometry.
Then, came a moment when I got a picture of cricket linked with this common perpendicular associated with number 19. I kept on scratching my head and with the moment of disbelief I got this name right in front of my monitor, “Rahul Dravid”, who wore jersey number 19 representing India in shorter format as well as for Rajasthan Royals in his playing days. He wasn’t just a member of that significant Indian batting lineup of the era but was one of the gentlest cricketers to have played international cricket. ‘The Wall’ as he is often known in the cricketing world, kept India out of trouble on numerous occasions. His recent triumph came in the ICC U-19 world cup campaign as a coach having an unbeaten stroke of winning the trophy with the young bunch led by an extraordinary Prithvi Shaw.
This was not an end to my thought process, as 19 were hovering around like a spinning fidget spinner with an extraordinary acceleration. Then I caught something that made me note down in my old significant diary. The 19th century was a different period of time when cricket was just limited in the Royal backyard. It was just coming into the scene and it was waiting for something great that cricket would see in the years to follow after that. Yet, wide ball, boundaries, as well as overarm bowling, were all introduced in that era which led the foundation to be one of the leading sports globally after Football.
I am not encountering history within these moments of time. It all began when I saw the replay of the video of the 1st day of WCLC 2018 Division II in which host Namibia lost the match by a very little margin. The one man that stood between the victory line and Namibians was jersey no. 19 for Nepal, Basant Regmi.
Regmi has always been a trump card for skipper Paras whenever he needs to break significant partnerships while bowling. With the higher arm orthodox left-arm spin of Basant, you will always get that air which is required for a cricket ball to show its undoing’s for the batsmen at any level. In addition to that; Regmi mixes up so well with the flat ones that very fewer batsmen at associate level could pick him.
I have stats alongside me suggesting my words are not just an emotional praise from me. He has taken a total of 34 wickets out of 1220 balls bowled until today (before the match of Nepal and Oman in an exciting match in Namibia). His economy rate is merely 3.99 with an all-important average of 23.91 in such era where a ball is usually seen out of the park in cricket.
Apart from stats via cricinfo.com, if we check his profile in one of the leading websites in cricket his role is defined as a bowler. Had there been a category of Crisis man in world cricket undoubtedly Basant Regmi would have joined some significant names alongside the list of International cricketers in the world very soon.
All my words are pointed towards the shot that brought Nepal back into the match, yesterday against a highly spirited Namibian team in their backyard. It was the 4th ball of the 49th over with 15 runs behind the target, when the crisis man stood up to the challenge, stepped out and lofted the ball over extra- cover to register his 3rd and the most valuable 6 of his List A career.
In addition to that, he creamed the ball towards third man area for a sweetest of the boundaries for Nepalese fans joining in live updates, slow coverage in the various platforms of social media. His 24 runs out of 254 runs in his List A career stood out for Nepal to pull off a lost war against some quality Namibian attack in a difficult condition. It was a significant 20th boundary of his career that came in the 2nd ball of the penultimate over that overshadowed the poor performance of Nepalese batsmen in the World League.
That particular innings added value to the number that he represents alongside the emblem of National Cricket team in his jersey. As he has mentioned in a lot of local interviews that he would always give 100% to the role he would be assigned to take the team forward. He has always been an ambassador of Nepali cricket wherever and however he represents this nation of crazy cricket enthusiasts.
In the modern era where jersey no. 17 of AB De Villiers and no. 18 of Virat Kohli is making fans watch cricket all over the world. Jersey no. 19 of Nepal is showing the world that talent is intrinsic when it comes to cricket in Nepal. The fighting spirit of Basant would certainly inspire the bunch of youngsters to come into the scene and raise the bar to make the world reverberate the names like that of Jersey no. 10, the God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar who took the name of his country as a global powerhouse in cricket.
