The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has roped in the former Indian cricketer Devika Dilip Palshikar as their consultant coach for the senior women’s cricket team of Nepal.
“A former Indian player with coaching experience of over 10 years will be involved in planning and execution of the team‘s preparation for the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier,” said CAN via Twitter.
Previously she worked as an assistant coach for India and Bangladesh. Along with these, she was the batting coach of Mumbai Indians in the inaugural Women’s Premier League where they were the champions. Her work with Velocity in the Women’s T20 Challenge and Baroda in the domestic tournaments tells how well she is with grooming talents. In the WPL, she worked alongside England legend Charlotte Edwards and the Indian stalwart Jhulan Goswami.
Nepal’s next major tournament is the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier which is scheduled to take place in Malaysia from 31st August to 9th September. The two finalists will play in the main qualifying event in 2024. Eleven teams will compete for the 2 spots divided into 2 groups. Group A includes Nepal, UAE, Qatar, Bhutan, Malaysia, and Bahrain while Group B contains China, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Thailand, and Kuwait.
Nepal’s first match is against the home side, Malaysia on 31st August 2023 and they will be surely eyeing one spot in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier.
With so much cricket happening, Nepal took a progressive decision to add a consultant coach, Devika Palshikar. The former Indian international debuted against arch-rivals Pakistan in 2006 and made a park straightaway with a player of the match worthy performance of 3 for 12, her spell of 10 overs included 4 maidens. She played 16 internationals which included 1 Test and 15 ODIs. She last played in the Indian jersey in 2008. The only test which she played was against Australia.
Nepal recently announced a preparatory camp ahead of the Asia qualifier. The 24 players selected for the camp are Rubina Chhetri (Captain), Sita Rana Magar, Indu Barma, Apsari Begum, Kabita Kunwar, Kabita Joshi, Asmina Karmacharya, Ishwori Bista, Kritika Marasini, Bindu Rawal, Neri Thapa, Kajol Shrestha, Samjhana Khadka, Saraswoti Chaudhary, Sneha Mahara, Shristi Jaisi, Kanchan Shrestha, Roma Thapa, Sabnam Rai, Puja Mahato, Khusi Dongol, Manisha Chaudhary, Jyoti Pandey, and Ruby Poddar.
The onus will be on Sita Rana Magar to do the bulk of the scoring and along with her, captain Rubina Chhetri and Indu Barma’s experience will also come into play while in the bowling it will be the trio of Rana Magar, Chhetry, and Kunwar. Apart from these, there are many players with lesser international exposure and Devika’s addition will hopefully propel them to success.
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