This young sensation who has instilled massive amount of hope in every Nepali cricket fan, must have trained more than anyone else in the game of cricket.
Almost 6 years back, a little skinny guy from small town (Mahendranagar) playing for his school never thought of playing a great knock in the match scoring a big 104 runs off just 52 balls in a T20 match and soon was on the eye of district selectors. He was invited for training along with the national players who already represented national team before. The facility of cricket academy was not introduced back then, however, players would manage in a open ground called (Khulla Munch) where anyone from outside was allowed to hangout anywhere in the ground.
In 2012, he was finally selected for U-16 school level national tournament which was his first elite match. In terms of cricket, Birgunj was a famous town because of the players like Binod Das former captain of Nepal national team. That tournament was really forgettable for his region (Baitadi) as they got thrashed in every game they played and were knocked out straight away but in one of the match something special happened as Airee was placed on short thirdman, the batsman just guided the ball towards short thirdman and Airee was very quick on the ball which turned out to be a great One-handed runout, that moment was pretty special for everyone in the field because of doing such things in his early days and It was a great learning experience for this young lad.
Despite his family disagreeing on his decision to play cricket professionally he worked very hard on his game and on his fitness to extreme level and played everywhere in and out of the country. His coach used to arrange some tours in India with local clubs and he used to grab every opportunity coming his way. He played Nepal Premier League(NPL), Everest Premier League(EPL), SPA Cup and many regional tournaments.
Finally, he was selected for Nepal U-19 team and soon became very consistent for his team with the ball and bat. He polished up his batting and bowling immensely and was key player for his team and for nation. He played ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup hosted by Bangladesh in 2016 but his performance was not satisfying and was not able to make it to the semis and was placed 8th position in the tournament.
Airee was called up for close camp along with 31 other members and a big decision was taken ahead of ICC World Cricket League match against Kenya. He was playing against Kenya and was living his dream to play for Nepal National Team which he started to dream of when he was a kid. Wearing jersey no.45 he was pumped up for his first match in senior level of competitive cricket. He just managed to score 19 runs in that rain-hit match and made very good comeback in second match blistering 62 runs off 66 balls.
His form, fitness, maturity and experience enforced some of the selectors and officials to make him as Captain of Nepal U-19 team. He will continue to serve his nation in every possible way and he has given every Nepali fans a hope to ensure some memorable victory to take his team to the highest level. Wishing Dipendra Singh Airee all the best for his future in cricket.