KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 28

Nepal national cricket team head coach Pubudu Dassanayake arrived here today for his second stint and he was eager to lead the team to another World Cup.

Dassanayake, the architecture behind Nepal's maiden World Cup appearance in 2014, said Nepal had the potential to play in World Cups. 'It's a great feeling to come back to Nepal and I am looking forward for the challenges,' said the Sri Lanka-born Canadian, who took Nepal to the ICC World Cricket League Division-II apart from the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.

'It's a different situation this time around.

Nepal was in Division-IN when I came here for the first time in 2011 and now Nepal is a ODI nation with T20I status,' he said. 'This time the challenges are different on the field and there are a lot of things to work on.

I just want to take Nepal to next level and get into few World Cups.

Dassanayake said Nepal needed to adjust with the rest of the world regarding cricket structure. 'Talking about cricket side, there are lots to improve and one positive thing is that we have a great talents coming up. The world has changed in terms of cricket structure and Nepal has to adjust in that set up.

There are a lot of planning and work to do and I am looking forward to it.'

Asked about the disorder in national team following Cricket Association of Nepal's decision to take action against four cricketers apart from removing skipper Gyanendra Malla and vice-captain Dipendra Singh Airee from their posts, Dassanayake said the issue was not that big and he hoped to get support from everyone including the players and management to move forward as a team.

'It's a very common thing around the world. Once we get into a room and discuss about everything, I don't see issue there,' he added. 'The biggest thing is all about national team and not about an individual. I think if we move to that direction, every problem will be solved.'

Regarding the preparation of the national team for February's Twenty20 World Cup Global Qualifiers, Dassanayake said it was already late to start the training camp. 'It's a very short period for preparation but I think Nepal is in goo d set up with lots of talents.

So we really need to sort out little things we have at the moment and get into the training camp. I don't think Nepal should miss any World Cup from now on,' he added.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 29, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.