Jackpot! Nepal gets a cricket world cup winning coach on the board

Kathmandu:Dav Whatmore of Australia has been appointed as head coach of the Nepal national cricket team.

The former Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Zimbabwe coach will have Raunak Bahadur Malla as general manager, while Binod Kumar Das will be taking over as cricket manager from January 1, 2021.

Whatmore's principal task at hand will be to secure qualification for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia, with Nepal failing to secure a berth at the 2021 T20 World Cup in India.

His appointment will bring a rich vein of experience to the national side, while also filling a vacancy that had persisted for nearly a year after Umesh Patwal stepped down in February.

"Dave is extremely keen to take on this new challenge, as he strongly believes Nepal has great talent and a very bright future in international cricket," said a press release by the Nepal Cricket Association. "Nepal is a beautiful country and Dav is looking forward to this new challenge with young talent in Nepal."

Whatmore as a coach was instrumental steering Sri Lanka to a World Cup title in 1996. He then went on to oversee Bangladesh's rise from 2003-07, guiding them through to the Super Eights of the 2007 World Cup where they knocked India out and also upset South Africa.

He has also coached the Kolkata Knight Riders IPL franchise for two seasons as well as Indian domestic side Kerala, who made their first Ranji Trophy semi-finals in 2018-19 under Whatmore.(UNI)