By a Staff Reporter
Pubudu Dassanayake, the head coach of the Nepali National Cricket Team has resigned from his job on Wednesday. Pubudu was appointed as Canada’s head coach within a few hours of his resignation.
Dassanayake, who returned to Nepal last year, quitted from his job after working for 7 months. He resigned after facing great pressure and criticism as the team under his leadership failed to reach the ICC T20 World Cup which is scheduled to be held in Australia later this year. A consecutive below par performance in the ICC World Cup League-2 tri series ODI is also one of the reasons behind his resignation.
Nepal created a history by playing the T20 World Cup for the first time in 2014 when Dassanayake was the head coach. Similarly, Nepal got promoted to Division 2 from Division 4 in between 2011 to 2015 A.D. when he was in charge of the team for the first time. Pubudu, who was previously considered as the most successful coach in Nepali Cricket History, had an unsatisfactory second tenure.
The six reasons for his resignation are as follows:
6. Canada’s head coach:
Right after Pubudu resigned from the Nepali Cricket Team, Cricket Canada announced his appointment as the head coach of the Canadian National Cricket Team. After staying away from his family for quite a long time, he decided to go back to his family and work in Canada itself. He also informed that he is backing off due to personal reasons which he didn’t want to elaborate.
Pubudu was not comfortable working along with the standard of Nepal. He backed off as he got an opportunity to work staying alongside his family. Although Pubudu said that he would not work anywhere else abroad while announcing his resignation, the announcement of his appointment as the head coach of Canadian National Team came out in a while.
5. No improvements in batting
Batting has been the major problem of Nepal lately. The prime challenge for any coach that will show up in the near future will be on improving batting standard. Under Pubudu, Nepal’s batting was hilarious. As he failed to improve the batting standard even in seven months of his tenure, results didn’t come in favor of Nepal.
Before the appointment of Pubudu, former coach Dev Watmore showed high probability in batting due to which high expectations were set by the stakeholders. After expectations turned into disappointment, Pubudu thought it was appropriate to leave Nepal.
4. Failing to qualify for the ICC T20 World Cup
The main objective of appointing Pubudu was to qualify for the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October/November 2022. After one and half months of his appointment, Nepal went to Oman to compete in ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier A with short preparation.
Nepal got a step closer to compete in the T20 World Cup as the team managed to reach the semi finals of T20 World Cup Qualifier after three consecutive wins in group stage. But the team lost the semi final match against UAE by 68 runs. Along with the defeat, a golden opportunity to qualify for the T20 World Cup was denied. As the coach was not able to fulfil the prime objective, he got under pressure after which the performance of the team significantly declined. There was no other option than to leave after an awful performance in ICC World Cup League 2, which was his last option to prove his worth.
3. ODI recognition in risk
Nepal’s ODI recognition is in risk. Nepal is currently in sixth position with 17 points in ICC World Cup League 2 points table with 8 wins and 11 losses in 20 matches played. Under his leadership, Nepal lost 7 matches out of 12 in the World Cup League 2. Following the 7 defeats, Nepal’s ODI recognition has exceeded the danger line.
ICC has not released the official blueprint for ODI recognition. But so far it is said that only the top five teams of ICC World Cup League 2 will get ODI recognition. Nepal has 16 games in hand. Nepal must win almost all the matches to finish in the top three. Nepal must win 12 or more matches to save its ODI status.
With the current performance and results, 12 wins seems to be very difficult. He thought it would be best to quit the job before losing ODI recognition. Incase Nepal loses the ODI status, Pubudu will have a black mark on his coaching career which may hamper his entire career. He resigned to be on the safe side.
2. Lack of unity in team
There is a lack of unity in the Nepali Cricket Team. Due to which Nepal has not been able to perform well lately. The other reason for appointing Pubudu as the head coach was to create team unity. Although some improvements were made over his tenure, but he was not completely successful.
Unity is the biggest challenge in Nepali cricket. No matter how strong one is, without unity nothing can be achieved. He understood that he could not be comfortable in Nepal as he failed to bring back unity in the team.
1. Not getting support from the players
Pubudu did not get support from the players as per his expectations. What made him successful from 2011 to 2015 was the team unity and team spirit of the players. Pubudu could not get enough support from the players in the meantime. He rejoined the team during the player’s dispute.
It was certain that Pubudu would not get support as he did not speak in favor of controversial players. The team is unlikely to win without the support of the key players. As he failed to receive adequate support he decided to return back to Canada.
