Gyanendra Malla will be the head coach of the national men’s team when they travel to Hong Kong for the quadrangular series comprising Kuwait and Qatar, the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) informed.

Malla, who also played and captained the Nepali side, is the head coach for the A team of Nepal. “Malla has been appointed as the head coach for the senior team for the Hong Kong series,” Chhumbi Lama, CAN’s spokesperson, told the Post.

The post for the senior men’s team head coach had been vacant since Monty Desai’s departure in February. While the CAN has appointed Australia’s Stuart Law as the head coach for two years starting April, he will join the team after the series in Hong Kong.

“Law will join and begin training the players called in the closed camp for CWC League 2 once the current squad returns from Hong Kong,” Lama said. “Malla has been with the senior side after the conclusion of the Men’s PM Cup and will continue until the series between the four teams concludes.”

Previous encounters

Nepal will be entering the series as the favourites. Nepal are the highest-ranking T2oI team in the series. Yet, Nepal have not had an easy time when they met the three opponents previously.

Of the three competitors, Nepal have played the most matches against the host, Hong Kong. Nepal and Hong Kong have met 11 times in T20Is since 2014; both have won five times, while one game ended without a result.

It has also not been long since Nepal travelled to Hong Kong. Nepal and Papua New Guinea were invited for a tri-series in March last year. Nepal had lost to Hong Kong in a friendly, while the series encounter was cancelled due to rain.

Meanwhile, Nepal and Kuwait have met once in T20Is, in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Asia Region Final in July 2019. Nepal won the game by seven wickets.

Yet, Nepal lost to Qatar in the same tournament when they met in their first T20I encounter. Qatar defeated Nepal by four wickets. But when the two teams met again, in the ACC Men’s Premier Cup in April last year, Nepal defeated Qatar by 32 runs.

Fixtures

Tin Kwong Road Recreation Ground will be hosting the four countries in a single round-robin format, with the top two teams playing for the title and the last two for third place.

Similarly, there will be two matches a day and a day gap in the five-day tournament. Nepal vs Qatar and Hong Kong vs Kuwait will mark the opening day on April 9, while Nepal face Kuwait and Hong Kong play Qatar on April 10.

With a rest day on April 11, Nepal will compete against the host, and Kuwait will face Qatar on April 12. The final and the third-place playoff are slated for April 13.

According to Cricket Hong Kong, fans from around the world can catch the action on Cricket Hong Kong's official YouTube channel as well as on Styx Sports. Nepal’s first two games will begin at 6:45 am Nepali time and the third game against Hong Kong at 11:15 am.

Nepal’s squad

Malla is taking 14 players with him to Hong Kong. As per the squad revealed by CAN on Saturday, Rohit Kumar Paudel is captaining the side, including power hitters like Kushal Bhurtel, Dipendra Singh Airee, Kushal Malla, Lokesh Bam and Basir Ahmad.

Similarly, two left-arm spinners, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi and Shahab Alam, will be bowling alongside pacers Karan KC, Sompal Kami and Rijan Dhakal. Gulshan Kumar Jha and Nandak Kumar Yadav are also in the team.