The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) announced former Indian allrounder Manoj Prabhakar as new head coach of the Nepali Cricket Team.
Nepali cricket team was without any coach after the resignation of Pubudu Dassanayake few weeks back. CAN confirmed the appointment of the new head coach on Monday.
Who is Manoj Prabhakar ?
Manoj Prabhakar is a former Indian allrounder who was a right-arm medium-pace bowler and a lower-order batsman. He made his official debut back in 1984 and retired from international cricket after 12 years in 1996.
He has played 39 test matches and grabbed 96 test wickets along with 1600 test runs which included a century and 9 half-centuries.
Similarly, Prabhkar has played 130 ODI matches for India and summed up his career with 157 ODI wickets and 1858 ODI runs. His ODI records include a couple of centuries and 11 half-centuries.
Records
Manoj Prabhakar was a middler/lower oder batsman. However, in many occasions he has opened the innings with bat as well.
He has played the role of opening batsman as well as opening bowler in both, Test matches as well as in ODI matches. He accomplished this 45 times in ODIs and 20 times in Tests, more than any other player in both formats.
Similarly, Manoj Prabhakar ranks 9th in all time Outstanding bowling analyses in an innings (3/5).
Coacing Career
Prabhakar started his professional coaching career with Delhi Cricket Team (bowling coach) and was aapointed the head coach of Rajasthan Cricket Team.
In November 2011, he was sacked as the coach of Delhi for speaking against the management and the team in media.
In December 2015, he was named as bowling coach of Afghanistan cricket team ahead of 2016 ICC World Twenty20 that was played in India in March 2016.
Controversies
In 1999, Prabhakar participated in an expose of match-fixing by the Tehelka news organisation. However, he was then charged by the BCCI with involvement in match fixing and subsequently banned from playing cricket for the Indian team.