Monty Desai, the former coach of Indian Premier League (IPL) outfit Rajasthan Royals, is set to join the Nepali U-19 camp as batting consultant for the upcoming ACC U-19 Eastern Region cricket tournament slated for September 10-18 in Malaysia. 

The ACC U-19 Eastern Region is an eight-team league-cum-knockout tournament between non-Test playing teams with the winners earning ticket to the ACC U-19 Asia Cup to be held in Malaysia in November this year. The eight teams include Nepal, Singapore, Thailand and Bhutan in Group ‘A’ and Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Myanmar in Group ‘B’.

Desai, who is schedule to arrive in Kathmandu on Monday, will look after Nepal for 10 days before the team departs for Malaysia. Former CEO of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) Bhawana Ghimire said Desai is coming to Nepal as he was recruited by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC). “After U-19 coach Binod Das requested to provide a batting consultant, we had a round of chat with ACC which instantly agreed to send Desai here,” Ghimire said adding the regional cricket governing body will bear all the expenses of Desai’s trip to Nepal. Ghimire has been liaising with international bodies since ICC suspended CAN on April 25 last year. 

Das had been asking for batting coach after a disappointing performance with the bat during the ICC U-19 World Cup Division 1 Qualifiers for Asia Region in Singapore last month. Nepal, who had struggled in chase of double figure target against lowly teams like Malaysia and Singapore, were shut out for 49 and 99 runs against Afghanistan in both their round robin league matches. The crushing defeats saw Nepal lose a spot in the 2019 U-19 World Cup to be held in New Zealand. 

The 49 all out against Afghanistan is Nepal’s lowest total till date in their U-19 cricket history. Allrounder Dipendra Singh Airee was the only Nepali batsman to show some grit in Singapore scoring the only half century from his side and 48 runs against Afghanistan in the second league game. 

Desai had the experience with Nepali cricketers having previously worked with the senior team for the 2015 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers. He had also been a batting consultant of Canada.