Nepal rope in Dav Whatmore as their head coach

With an eye on the 2022 T20 World Cup, Nepal have roped in Dav Whatmore as their new head coach. Nepal Cricket Association announced the development on Thursday through a press release. The Australian will have Raunak Bahadur Malla as general manager, while Binod Kumar Das will be taking over as cricket manager from the start of next year.

Nepal were looking for their new head coach since February this year after Umesh Patwal stepped down from the post. Whatmore’s  main task for Nepal would be to ensure a qualification for them in the 2022 T20 World Cup which would be held in Australia. Nepal failed to make the cut for the 2021 T20 World Cup in India.

“Dave [sic] 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. Nepal is a beautiful country and Dave is looking forward to this new challenge with young talent in Nepal,” said a press release by the Nepal Cricket Association.

Highly experienced coach

Nepal would be delighted after securing the services of Dav Whatmore who is one of the most experienced among the current coaches. He has ample experience of coaching teams in international cricket. Whatmore was the head coach of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Zimbabwe in the past.

In 1996, he coached Sri Lanka to their maiden and so far only 50-over World Cup triumph. In 2007 World Cup, Bangladesh punched above their weight as they defeated title favourites India and went on to make it to the Super Eights. Later, he coached Pakistan to the Asia Cup title in 2012. Dav Whatmore also plied his trade as the Director of the National Cricket Academy in India in 2007.

Later, he took charge of the India U19 team. Under him, India won the 2008 U19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia. As a player, he represented Australia in seven Tests and one ODI between 1979 and 1980. At first-class level, he scored over 6,000 runs for Victoria.