Nepal Cricket on Monday appointed India's Monty Desai as the head coach of the Nepal National Cricket Team. Desai, who trained with the Nepal team for a week, has been appointed in the role after the chief of Organisation Coordination Section of the National Sports Council Chandra Rai approved the move. Desai has worked with IPL franchises and has also coached the West Indies cricket team.
Cricket Nepal made the announcement via social media. "Mrugng (Monty) Desai, a very experienced high-performance coach from India, has been appointed as the head coach of the Nepal National Cricket Team," the cricket body wrote on Twitter.
Desai has replaced Manoj Prabhakar, who resigned last year. The Cricket Association of Nepal had earlier released the head coach's vacancy statement. "The Head Coach will be responsible for leading the development of the Men’s Cricket Team to produce consistent performances at the international level through the design and delivery of well-structured and progressive coaching programs," the association had written earlier.
The new head coach Desai's first task will be in a tri-series against Namibia and Scotland. The series will be played from 14 February and is a part of the ICC World Cup Cricket League 2. Nepal are currently finding it hard to directly for the ODI World Cup 2023 in India as they are on second last spot in the points table with 18 points.
Nepal Cricket has been caught in turmoil as their star player Sandeep Lamichhane was accused of rape. There have been calls to boycott the event organised by CAN after it allowed Lamichhane to practice. Former Nepal Cricket team captain Sandeep Lamichhane’s suspension was recently lifted by the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) after being granted bail. Lamichhane, 22, was recently granted bail by the Nepal court having been involved in a rape case of a 17-year-old girl in his homeland. The former IPL player was arrested on 6th October 2022 and spent the rest of the year behind the bars.
