Raj Kumar Pradhan (Nepali: राज कुमार प्रधान) (born 27 April 1973) is a former Nepalese cricketer. Raj is a right-handed batsman and a leg spin bowler.[1] He made his debut for Nepal against UAE in July 2002.[2]

Raj Pradhan
Personal information
Full name
Raj Kumar Pradhan
Born (1973-04-27) 27 April 1973 (age 51)
Nepal
NicknameShane Warne of Nepal, Baby
BattingRight-handed
BowlingLeg spin
RoleBowler
International information
National side
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2014–2014Panchakanya Tej (NPL)
2003–2014Biratnagar (National League)
Career statistics
Competition First-class
Matches 4
Runs scored 5
Batting average 2.50
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 4
Balls bowled 314
Wickets 5
Bowling average 33.40
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match 0
Best bowling 2/23
Catches/stumpings 1/-
Source: CricketArchive, 13 July 2014

He also represented the Panchakanya Tej of the Nepal Premier League and Region no. 1 Biratnagar of the National League.

Biography

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Born in 1973, Raj Pradhan first played for Nepal at the 2002 ACC Trophy in Singapore.[3] He made his first-class début in 2004 when he played for Nepal against the UAE and Malaysia in the 2004 ICC Intercontinental Cup. Later in the year he played in the ACC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur as well as ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament matches against Singapore and the UAE.[3]

In February 2005 he played in the repêchage tournament of the 2005 ICC Trophy,[3] in which Nepal finished third after beating Qatar in a play-off.[4] He also played ACC Fast Track Countries Tournament matches against Singapore, Malaysia,[3] the UAE and Hong Kong

In 2006, he played in a match against Namibia in Windhoek in the 2006 ICC Intercontinental Cup. Following this he went on a tour of Pakistan with Nepal before playing in the ACC Trophy.[3] He also represented Nepal in the 2008 ACC Trophy Elite.

However, despite his impressive performance with the national team, he was forced to quit cricket in the middle and go to Qatar to earn money and support his family. He left the national team in 2009 and went to Qatar, where he played club cricket and impressed one and all with his bowling. He was even offered to play for the Qatar national team but he declined the offer thinking it would be a disrespect to Nepal, and returned home to play for Nepal again. He represented Nepal again after six years when he was selected in Nepal squad for the 2014 ACC Premier League.[5]

He was among the 19 players who were called in the close-camp for 2014 Asian Games. But he left the close-camp and went Japan for foreign employment in August 2014.[6]

Man of the match awards

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The following list illustrates all the matches in which Pradhan has been awarded Man of the Match while representing Nepal in international tournaments/series.

S.N. Event/Series Opponent Venue Match Performance Team Position
1 2004 ACC Trophy,
Malaysia
  Afghanistan
(One-day)
Selangor Turf Club,
Kuala Lampur
10-2-20-4
Scorecard
5th

Notes and references

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  1. ^ "Raj Pradhan". Cricinfo.
  2. ^ "The Home of CricketArchive". cricketarchive.com.
  3. ^ a b c d e Other matches played by Raj Pradhan at CricketArchive
  4. ^ "Scorecard of Nepal v Qatar, ICC World Cup Qualifying Series 2004/05 (3rd Place Play-off)". cricketarchive.co.uk.
  5. ^ "The return of the wily spinner". myrepublica.com.
  6. ^ "Pradhan returns Japan". Nepal Cricket.
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