Monty Desai does not have a magic wand. But for thousands of cricket fans in Nepal, he is nothing less than a magician!
When the seasoned coach joined the Nepal team in February this year, the associate member nation needed eleven wins from twelve games in the World Cup Super League 2, and only a miracle could have earned the side a spot in the ODI World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe.
Desai, having worked with several Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises and the West Indies team, knew that it would be a difficult task, but not impossible. The first thing that he did after reaching Kathmandu was interacting with the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) officials and the players to understand their mindset. With not much time in hand, Desai had to quickly identify whether there was any need for tweaking the team combination.
He kept things simple, provided the much-needed boost to the players, and the rest fell in place. From being a no-hoper, Nepal stormed into the Qualifiers amid huge support from the local crowd, and on Sunday, it will be facing Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club in the opening game of the ODI World Cup Qualifiers.
The road ahead is tough for sure, but the young team, which has also made it to the final stage of the Asia Cup, wants to put up a strong fight and hopes to board the flight to India for the ODI World Cup in November.
Despite having quite a few promising talents, too much chopping and changing have hurt Nepal in the past. But now, under Desai’s coaching, there is hope.
“When I took charge, the most important thing for me was to build the story. I wanted to understand where they stand : One, individually. Then, as a team, and then CAN as an association,” Desai tells Sportstar.
“So when I walked in, the big effort was to understand what was going on. What are the areas where I feel we need a little bit of a tweak, make a little bit of a change? And then, the key part was first to identify skills in place and in short period, what are the areas and skills which I can train for and develop them in certain areas and define roles,” he added.
So, it was all about planning and giving clarity of roles to the players. “When I look back at it, we have played reasonably well. We competed very well in terms of getting the results and competing against these associate teams. But now, the key factor is that we will be challenged more and then the expectations are very high.”
Camaraderie in the camp
Every time the home team played in Nepal, thousands of fans braved extreme weather conditions and cheered for the team from the stands at the Tribhuvan University ground. The emotions were running high and the players soon realised that this was an opportunity which they couldn’t afford to miss.
“Just about a week before our game against Namibia, we got to know that our opener Kushal Bhurtel’s mom had suffered severe burns all over her body in a freak accident and she was admitted to a hospital in Kathmandu. In such a moment of crisis, I just didn’t know how to respond. I obviously gave him a break and he went away from the camp to the hospital. When we discussed that with some of the senior players in the team and the captain, everyone was supportive,” Desai says.
The seasoned coach realised that there’s enough togetherness and camaraderie in the camp, and he just needed to keep everyone together to chase the dreams.
“When I went to meet Kushal, I met their whole family. I realised that his sister is his inspiration, and she insisted that Kushal should go back to the camp and focus on the tournament,” Desai says. And, the team-mates ensured that Kushal was in a happy space and that resulted in him scoring a century against Namibia.
“That set the ball rolling. To win a tournament or to win a championship or to get where we have reached it is not possible with one individual performance. There are a lot of stories which have unfolded in different games. Many players have stepped up. That is the whole journey of the game,” Desai says.
Asia Cup qualification
Qualifying for the Asia Cup was also a huge deal. Come August and the team will travel to Lahore to begin its campaign against Pakistan. While the players are looking forward to playing against the likes of Babar Azam and Virat Kohli, Desai knows that the biggest job at the moment is to perform well in the World Cup Qualifiers in Zimbabwe.
“That will be a huge moment for us,” he says.
“As far as the Asia Cup is concerned, it’s a huge opportunity. They have always dreamed of playing against the superstars - Virat Kohlis and Babar Azams. Because I know that we are in that pool. It is already exciting. We’ll be playing against Pakistan, playing against India and I’m excited about how it will look from the dressing room when they respond when we go there,” he says.
Monty Deai explains a point during a practice session. | Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI
“Will they be naive? Will they be shy? Or will they be actually in those one ball battles? I think the whole country is also excited to look forward to that whole platform, how it will look like in the stadium. Lot of fans are actually excited to come and support us as well. It’s a huge thing for that country. Forget winning and losing and all the other things, but the opportunity to play against the best players in the world, opportunity to play against the best sides in the world is a huge thing for an associate nation,” Desai adds.
In his long coaching career, Desai has been part of Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils and has worked extensively with Rahul Dravid. He admits that he’s picked Dravid’s brains.
“I have learned a lot from the Royals. Royals was my school of learning because I was around some big experts. Paddy (Upton) has done so much of job with the Indian team. My philosophy is evolving constantly,” he says, adding that the experience of working with Phil Simmons and other local coaches have helped him immensely.
While the Nepal team has had enough training before heading to Zimbabwe for the World Cup Qualifiers, Desai believes that going forward, if the team gets to feature in local Indian tournaments, that will help them a lot.
“I’ve been trying to informally reach out to some of my networks over here in India, so that we can feature in tournaments like KSCA, Buchi Babu Trophy. If these tournaments can open up to bring the national side, like Nepal over here and participate, it will go a long way. It will go a long way for both sides, I think for the tournament also, it’s a little bit of a higher thing if the national team comes here and participates, and rubs shoulders with other Ranji Trophy teams,” Desai says.
That’s something both Desai and the officials at CAN are trying. “Look at Ireland and where they were 15 years ago and even now! At times they feel that they lack opportunities and all this exposure. But in small countries, I think there is a huge amount of opportunity for a lot of people to step in and help them out there. And world cricket can grow a lot from here…”
Five years ago, when Sandeep Lamichhane made it to the IPL and donned the Delhi Capitals colours, it was a huge moment for Nepal. But controversies and lack of form saw the youngster losing the plot in the world of IPL.
However, the recent streak of good performances have once again shifted the focus back on Nepal and Desai hopes his men can create history in Zimbabwe. That’s a tall ask for sure, but like thousands of Nepal fans, even the coach has his fingers crossed. Bon voyage!
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