Kathmandu, February 3

National cricket team coach Umesh Patwal of India has resigned from the post with effect from Mid-February after the 2020 Nepal Tri-nation Series under the ICC Cricket World Cup League-II slated for February 5-12 at the TU Stadium on Wednesday.

Patwal is believed to have put in the papers to International Cricket Council a couple of weeks earlier, four months before the end of the one-year contract. The Cricket Association of Nepal officials said they were not aware of the resignation, but the National Sports Council confirmed Patwal’s resignation.

NSC Member Secretary Ramesh Kumar Silwal said he had instructed the concerned authority at his office to approve Patwal’s resignation following a round of conversation with CAN officials.

CAN President Chatur Bahadur Chand, however, said he was not aware of the matter.

Silwal said the process of hiring new coach would get underway soon. “The ICC representatives are coming to Kathmandu in a couple of days and we will discuss about hiring new coach with them,” Silwal added.

Patwal took over Nepali cricket in June last year with a monthly salary of $7,000.

Under Patwal, Nepal fared miserably in the regional qualifiers of World Twenty20 and Oman Pentagular Series, while the team won bronze medal in the 13th South Asian Games.

According to CAN President Chand, the coach was yet to receive his salary from the NSC. “Patwal has not withdrawn his three-month salary from the NSC because of the tax issue,” said Chand.

“And the ICC has not sent the rest of the amount after the world governing body came to know about that,” he added.

The first-ever ODI tri-nation series to be hosted by Nepal is beginning at the TU Stadium on Wednesday with the match between the hosts and Oman. The United States of America are the third side in the series.