Manoj Prabhakar, the head coach of the Nepali national cricket team, has said that his first goal is to continue ODIs and then for Test recognition. Prabhakar, who arrived in Nepal on Saturday evening, gave this response while talking to journalists at Tribhuvan Airport.
“It will be very challenging for me and I am ready for it. I will support the young players. Focus will be on your best day”, Prabhakar said after coming to Nepal. He added, “It will be a challenge for me to build strong team for the international level.”
When asked why he chose Nepal, he replied, ‘I myself came from the Himalayas. I want to work here. The power and capacity here are different. I will give excellent results”, he said.
Lately, Nepal’s performance is not that good. Therefore, it will not be easy for him to bring the team back to the rhythm. Prabhakar says that as he is experienced, he will solve the current problems.
The challenge of team building at the international level. I have experience. I know how to improve young players. They have always been struggling. This is a small mental thing. We will fix that. That’s why I came here. You will see a difference in them in two to three months”, said Prabhakar.
He says that he got to know more about Nepali cricket from Indian journalists. I know about Nepali cricket. A journalist from India has helped me to understand what Nepali cricket is. Some players have already played in IPL. I have been following, he said.
I have time. I will watch Nepal’s performance in the world. My target will be ODIs first and then Tests. Although I have not watched Nepal’s game live, I have watched the performance by watching the video, he said.
He added, “I want to help batting in Nepali cricket.” The bowler will prepare differently. It will make a difference if you put good targets on the board. So we will focus on batting improvement.
Nepal appointed Prabhakar after Pubudu Dasanayik resigned last month. The 59-year-old Prabhakar has played 39 Tests, 130 ODIs, 154 First Class and 214 List A matches for India.
He bowled at a fast pace and batted well in the lower order. He also opened with Sachin Tendulkar. He made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 1994. Prabhakar played three consecutive World Cups in 1987, 1992 and in 1996. In the 1987 World Cup, his performance was outstanding in leading India to the semi-finals.
In 1996, his career came to an end after bowling badly in the World Cup against Sri Lanka. At that time, Sanath Jayasuriya, who was famous as the most explosive batsman in world cricket, hit Prabhakar for 22 runs in the third over, and his career ended there.
In the 1990s, Prabhakar, who created the image of India’s influential all-rounder, ended his career with a one-match performance. Prabhakar is an opening player in both bowling and batting in both ODIs and Tests. Prabhakar is considered to be a tough and sharp speaking coach. He was the bowling coach of Afghanistan in the 2016 T20 World Cup. He worked as the bowling coach of Delhi and Rajasthan in Indian domestic cricket.
