KATHMANDU: The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) today confirmed Dav Whatmore's name as the head coach of the national cricket team.

In a press statement issued today, CAN said Whatmore, who led Sri Lanka to their maiden World Cup glory in 1996, will take charge of the national team.

The association has also appointed Raunaq Bahadur Malla as General Manager, Ramesh Kumar Neupane as chief Finance Officer and former skipper Binod Das as Cricket Manager. The appointments will come into effect form January 1, 2021, informed CAN Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakuryal.

Following Whatmore's appointment as head coach of the Nepali side, his manager Kaustav Lahiri said, "Dav is extremely keen to take this new challenge as he strongly believes Nepal has some great talent and has a very bright future in cricket. Nepal is a beautiful country and Dav is looking forward to have this new challenge with a bunch of young Nepali talent."

Dav Whatmore, who was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka migrated to Australia with his family at an early age and represented  his adopted nation before returning to take the helm of Sri Lanka national team.

In his coaching career, Whatmore has also managed Pakistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe national teams respectively and had brief stint with T20 franchise teams across the globe.

As many as 12 high profile coaches including former national coach Pubudu Dassanayake, Apurba Subhodbhai Desai among others were shortlisted by the CAN for the post.