Munik the Magnificent
Imagine
the sound of 25,000 fans crowded into a stadium, screaming “Munik!
Munik!”. How do you say wunderkind in Nepali? Munik Shrestha, one
of the biggest sports celebrities in Nepal, boy wonder, prodigy. Munik’s
accomplishments on the cricket pitch have wowed not only his countrymen,
but his international-level performance has raised eyebrows in the world
community. In his native Katmandu City, he can’t walk anywhere without
being stopped for an autograph. Among a population of 28 million Nepalese,
in a country approximately the size of Arkansas, and before even coming
close to the age of 18, Munik Shrestha is king.
Now picture Shrestha walking down a path of a small, green, quiet campus. He makes his way from his Gummere dorm room in to the Koshland Integrated Natural Sciences Center. There, he’ll tutor physics students for their upcoming exam, a group more likely to ask him about Planck’s Constant than for an autograph. Later that week, when he steps on to the cricket pitch on Cope Field, the scene is slightly skewed: he’s got the KINSC on one side and president Tom Tritton’s house on the other. Oh, and divide the number of fans he’s used to seeing and hearing by 1,000.
Shrestha doesn’t seem to mind leaving his celebrity persona behind. In fact, he’s thrilled to be a big fish in a small pond, studying physics, his favorite subject, working in the Campus Center’s game room, and living on Gummere 3/2nd (a hall adorned with a sign proclaiming “Land of the Bad Boys”). While sports are a major part of his life at Haverford, there’s a lot more Shrestha brings to campus besides his cricket bat and a celebrated career overseas.
His journey to the Philadelphia suburbs began in Katmandu City, where he was raised by his mother, Muna, as the youngest of three boys. His father died of a liver problem when Munik was two. Shrestha’s two brothers, Monish and Monir, both played cricket on a national level and helped raise him in a sports-intensive environment. “We had a field by our house, and we basically learned to play cricket watching games on TV and implementing that in our field,” says Shrestha, who spent two years carrying water bottles for both brothers and practicing with their teams. “I don’t think I would be anywhere without my mother’s and brothers’ encouragement.” After playing for local club and district teams, he joined the Under-17 national team and put on a slew of memorable performances. But one feat stood out from the rest. In the 55-year history of Nepalese cricket, Munik is the first player to hit for what is known as a “century” (scoring at least 100 runs in a single at-bat) in international competition. He did it facing Singapore in the 2001 Asia Cup Tournament and, with the national team’s coach looking on as he accomplished this feat, was almost immediately chosen to play for Nepal’s international squad. But what’s even more astounding is the fact that he was selected for the team when he was only 14, making him the country’s youngest player to compete internationally.
Unfortunately, that monumental accomplishment coincided with a political crisis in Nepal. For 10 years, Nepal had dealt with civil unrest during which rebels inspired by Chinese leader Mao Zedong attempted to topple the country’s Hindu monarchy. The king, however, hasn’t held complete power since the early 1950s, when a cabinet and prime minister were installed and subsequently, Nepal became a democracy in 1990. Since 1996, when the revolution began, over 13,000 people died in the conflict. As Munik grew up around this worsening political climate and alternated between studying for finals and touring with the national team, he realized his accomplishments only went so far to help his country forget the daily tragedies. “The more I thought about it, the more I realized I had done nothing except bring some joy to a relatively small number of the population, because the majority of Nepal doesn’t have enough resources to watch cricket,” recalls Shrestha. “With fortune comes responsibility, so I decided to get an education so I could do something to alleviate poverty and address social issues in the future.” Though he does not have a set plan for post-graduation life (he is only a freshman), Munik wants to take what he has learned and apply it to global education, especially in remote parts of the world.
Conventional wisdom would say that Shrestha left Nepal for Haverford because the College is home to the only varsity cricket team in the nation. But according to Munik, academics came first: “To be honest, my passion for physics and math was and is greater than that for cricket.” Even more fascinating to Shrestha was Haverford’s broad liberal arts curriculum. Or, as Munik puts it, “Where in the world can you study psychology, political science, religion, music, photography, and physics at the same time?” After spending a year at McKendree College in Lebanon, Illinois, he answered his own question, applying early decision to Haverford and receiving one of three academic scholarships awarded to international students every year.
The transition to Haverford wasn’t easy. Literally. According to athletic director and associate dean Greg Kannerstein ’63, the 19-year-old Shrestha arrived mid-May for a weekend visit. Or at least that’s what Kannerstein thought. Shrestha had misunderstood and expected to stay through the summer until the beginning of his first semester. Ever the opportunist and self-starter, Munik calmly found his own housing, got a summer job with the ’Ford’s grounds crew, and played for a cricket league in Philadelphia and Washington. “He also contacted a lot of future classmates by e-mail and knew half of them by the time they arrived,” recalls Kannerstein. “A misunderstanding turned into an excellent experience for all concerned.”
When coach and former member of the United States’ national cricket team Kamran Khan saw Munik on the field, he knew Shrestha had something special. Khan called him an “all-rounder,” meaning he’s an excellent batter as well as a good bowler (equivalent to a pitcher in baseball). Munik stands at about 5’9”, with a slender but muscular frame. Cricket is a sport that doesn’t require its athletes to resemble, say, Albert Pujols. He’s quick on his feet and has a great batter’s eye. Garrett McVaugh ’04, a former member of the Haverford cricket team (known as the XI), says that Shrestha (with whom he played once) has the physical attributes required for a cricketer. “It is important to be physically fit, since the games last for many hours, and it is also important to have the mental aspects for those very same reasons,” McVaugh says. “You must have the mindset for this quirky game.” He points out that Shrestha is still improving the mental side of his game, but McVaugh was thoroughly impressed with Munik’s raw talent.
Need further proof of that natural ability? Shrestha’s numbers from this season are astronomical: he led the team in total runs (251), tied with captain Sartaj Bhuiyan for an average of 41.83 runs per match, and scored a century in one of the XI’s six matches this past season. According to Kannerstein, Shrestha possesses “great arm speed,” which led him to permit a paltry 99 runs to score and an average of 7.8 runs allowed for the season. Because he’s only a freshman, there are still facets of his game that need some work (Kannerstein describes his batting as “erratic” but thinks it’s due to his age). That means he has what professional American sports scouts might call “extreme upside.” While he has some work to do hone his skills, Shrestha has the framework to become a great player.
Yet the most important statistic does not belong to Shrestha alone: the
team posted an 8-0 record during the fall season. Fielding a former national
player didn’t hurt, of course. “Having Shrestha on the team
gives the other players a lot of pride and a standard to shoot for. Also,
he has many cricket-talented classmates—the entire level of the
team has risen. He is such an unselfish and modest guy that there is no
resentment if he stands out,” says Kannerstein. Adds Khan, “He
is getting more comfortable being a leader and brings a lot of experience,
helping his teammates feel more confident.”
Off the cricket pitch, Shrestha is more than comfortable in his new surroundings.
Physics professor Walter Smith finds his star pupil well-adjusted and
humble about his famed past. “It really came as a surprise to me
to find out about his distinguished cricket career. That came up while
we were having lunch in the Campus Center café with Tom Tritton,
during the winter break when Munik was doing research with me,”
says Smith. During this past winter recess, Munik assisted Smith in his
work on Haverford’s Atomic Force Microscope, improving the nanotubes
at the tip of the machine in order to improve its resolution. Smith describes
Shrestha as “engaged and active” in his studies and, with
Munik’s advanced background in physics, finds that he can depend
on Shrestha to tutor his classmates.
As if those aren’t enough accomplishments for a first-year international student, Munik has already made an impression on classmates and administration alike. “Munik is an amusing, friendly, droll fellow, with a bit of a ‘Dalai Lama’ personality. He has a thoughtful countenance which can break into a radiant smile,” says Kannerstein. “He is very spiritually-minded, and an interesting combination of scientist and philosopher. He has many friends from all segments of the community and is not afraid to ‘be his own man’ while still being a contributing member of any group.” It is this spirituality that made Shrestha feel even more at home in his new surroundings. “I think being a brilliant scientist is not enough. We need to reach out to others and the world and help them as much as we can,” Munik explains. “I am a great admirer of Quaker beliefs because they greatly resemble Buddhism: tolerance, respect, and concern of others.” It’s no wonder he feels right at home on Haverford’s campus.
With his first two semesters now behind him, Shrestha can look forward to expanding his education even further as well as improving his skills on the cricket field. While Nepal and its turmoil may be thousands of miles away, Munik has found a new home at Haverford. If he’s ever homesick, however, he always has his memories of his success. Asked to describe his favorite recollection, Shrestha thinks of the moment he scored the century against Singapore. “As is the custom in cricket, I raised my bat to my teammates, and to all the crowd. I didn’t want to lower my bat at all,” he recalls. “But everything that rises has to come down.”
Fortunately for Shrestha, he can defy gravity—he’s got nowhere to go but up.
Charles Curtis ’04 is a freelance writer in New York whose
work has appeared in ESPN the Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and TV Guide.