U19 World Cup Quarter-Final match [Watch Live]

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Cricket has not taken over Nepal completely yet. An impasse over their first democratic constitution is leading to political turmoil. The country is still recovering from the earthquake of less than a year ago. And when it comes to sports that take the focus away from these issues, it is mostly football that takes over.

In Bangladesh, a group of 15 boys from Nepal are creating waves similar to the ones two years ago when the senior cricket team made it to the World T20 in Bangladesh. That team did not go past the first round to compete against the Full Member sides. This side, the Under-19s, however, has won its first two matches to make it to the knockouts.

When other Under-19 teams were preparing for the qualifiers and Full Member sides were coming out of the World Cup, Nepal was ravaged by an earthquake last April. The Nepal Under-19 team had a tournament coming up in June - the ACC Premier League - featuring five other Asian teams even as the country struggled in the aftermath of the calamity.

The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) managed to hold a 12-day camp in Kathmandu, but it was not going to be enough. They then requested the ICC and the BCCI to let them practise in India. Soon, Delhi became Nepal's new base. They played on college grounds, travelled across the city, and played against local club cricketers to get up to speed.

In June, they went to Malaysia for the Under-19 ACC Premier League and won four of their five matches, finishing behind only Afghanistan. Left-arm spinner Sushil Kandel took with 11 wickets at an economy rate of 1.68, easily the lowest in the tournament.

In October, they headed to Malaysia again for the World Cup Qualifiers. Only one out of five teams could join the other 15 for the main event. Nepal emerged unbeatable. They routed Papua New Guinea for 48 runs, Uganda he team has the skills and they go above and beyond physically. "Self-belief is very important. It' a very inexperienced side. Only players like Aarif and Raju [Rijal] have some experience. The other guys are very new, they are working hard every day, skill-wise and mentally.

"Normally we say to boys, enjoy yourself. That's one of the first things. We tell them to not think about who the opposition is, just focus only on your game and play and watch the ball. Keep it simple."

Aarif says there is a "vast difference" in facing sides in a World Cup, be it in batting, fielding, pace bowling or body language. Tackling Bangladesh at the Shere Bangla Stadium on a Friday will show him and his team another side of cricket, which visitors sides have found hard to cope with lately. But if they can overcome that, cricket will take another big step back home.

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