World Cup winning coach, Dav Whatmore appointed Nepal head coach

Dav Whatmore, the World Cup-winning coach of Sri Lanka in 1996, has been appointed as the new head coach of the Nepal men’s team.  

Whatmore, who represented Australia in seven Tests and a single ODI has a very successful career as a coach. Under his tutelage, Sri Lanka won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 1996. During his four year stint with Bangladesh, the Tigers collected a historic victory against India in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, qualifying for a Super Eights spot in the process. Later, under his coaching, Pakistan also won the Asia Cup in 2012, beating his former side Bangladesh, in the final.

Having coached IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, Zimbabwe and fellow Associate Singapore, his new tenure will keenly be watched at a time where Nepal is eyeing spots in ICC global events.

No stranger to the country, Whatmore made local headlines in Nepal during a visit to the country in 2017 when travelled as an invitee of Ball and Bat foundation, saying: ‘Nepali cricket has surprised a lot of people. The calibre of players here has been much better than what people are thinking. I think I might put my hands up being one of those.’

The 66-year-old will commence his new role, effective from the 1st of January, 2021. CAN had interviewed 12 candidates from the 72 applicants including the likes of former head coach Pubudu Dassanayake and Apurwa Desai applying for the role. 

CAN also have appointed Raunaq Bahadur Malla as their new General Manager (replacing the former CEO position). Malla was an ICC representative in Nepal when they hosted MCC during their last visit. He was the team manager of Vishal Warriors, one of the franchise teams in the Everest Premier League. There were 45 applicants applying for the role of General Manager in which 20 individual were shortlisted for an interview, according to CAN.

Likewise, Binod Das, the former captain of the Nepal men’s team and the Nepal U19 coach, has been appointed as the Cricket Manager of CAN. Apart from being the former captain of Nepal, he is widely accredited for his role in nourishing young talents like Dipendra Singh Airee, Rohit Kumar Paudel, and Kushal Malla, who have shown brilliant performances recently in the men’s team. It was also under his coaching that the Nepal U19 team defeated India U19s, coached by Rahul Dravid, by 19 runs in the ACC U19 Asia Cup.

Similarly, CAN has appointed Ramesh Kumar Neupane as their Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

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