Manoj Prabhakar appointed as Nepal head coach

The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has named former Indian cricketer Manoj Prabhakar as their head coach on August 8, Monday. The former Indian all-rounder has a wealth of experience in the coaching arena, having coached various Ranji Trophy sides earlier.

Prabhakar represented India in 39 Tests and 130 ODIs during the 1980s and 1990s, bagging 253 wickets and amassing nearly 3500 runs across formats for the national team. Since his retirement from playing the game, the Ranji Trophy-winning coach initially served as the bowling coach for the Delhi side, before taking over the position of head coach of Rajasthan.

He had a stint with the Afghanistan national team as a bowling coach during the T20 World Cup in 2016 and was later appointed as the head coach of the Uttar Pradesh side in the aftermath of the tournament. The CAN posted a tweet via their official Twitter handle to announce the arrival of the 59-year-old at the helm.

“Former Indian star all rounder and Ranji trophy winning coach, Mr. Manoj Prabhakar from India has been appointed as the Head Coach of Nepal National Cricket Team. Mr. Prabhakar has played 39 Test matches and 130 One Day Internationals for India. As a Coach, he has experience of working as coach of Afghanistan Cricket Team along with Ranji Trophy teams of Delhi, Rajasthan and UP Cricket Association,” the tweet read.

I want to make the Nepal team a cricketing force to be reckoned with: Manoj Prabhakar

Prabhakar said that he is on board with the plans after witnessing the talent and skills of the players in the country, and that he is looking forward to working with them. He said that he aims to make Nepal a cricketing force in the upcoming years.

“Seeing the interest for cricket in Nepal, their talent & skill level, I’m really looking forward to working with the Nepal cricket team to make them into a cricketing force to be reckoned with,” Prabhakar said in a statement.