KATHMANDU, Nov 28: After four years of his stay in Nepal during which he won the hearts and minds of the local cricket fans, Nepal's head coach Pubudu Dassanayake is set to leave the country on Saturday.
Sri Lanka-born Canadian national Dassanayake, who was appointed as Nepal's coach in 2011, is leaving Nepal with many success stories, along with controversies.
The outspoken Dassanayke was praised by the entire cricketing fraternity of Nepal during his stay and got support in every moment. He once said that coaching is not his job but his duty and had said he would leave Nepal if his team failed to produce good results.
And he took the hard decision on October 6 and submitted his resignation to the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN), saying that the two List A matches against Papua New Guinea in the ICC World Cricket League Championship would be his last assignment with the cricket governing body of Nepal.
Unfortunately, his farewell party was ruined by PNG as it won both the matches held in the UAE on November 16 and 18.
Dassanayake is considered as a successful coach of Nepal as he guided Nepal to the maiden ICC Twenty20 finals (World Cup) held in Bangladesh last year. Nepal also earned the T20I status last year with the national team's extraordinary performance in the World Cup.
Dassanayake is also the man who guided Nepal from ICC World Cricket League Division 4 to Division 1.
Under Dassanayake's guidance, Nepal claimed the titles of the Division 3 twice, last year and in 2013, and Division 4 in 2012. Nepal also shared the trophy of the ACC Elite Cup with host UAE in 2012.
However, Dassanayake failed to guide Nepal in the finals of the 50-over World Cup with a disappointing ninth place finish among the 10 participating nations in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers held in New Zealand last year.
Nevertheless, Dassanayake came under criticism lately as his side failed in many occasions in international arena. His re-appointments by CAN also drew flak.
Dassanayake was held responsible for failing in the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers held from July 9-26 in Scotland and Ireland.
He failed to guide the team to the finals for next year's T20 World Cup to be held in India after finishing bottom in the Group A that consisted of seven teams during the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers held in Scotland and Ireland from July.
The disastrous performances in the qualifiers also caused Nepal to lose its T20I status.
Some of the CAN members had been criticizing Dassanayake saying that he had been interfering with CAN's activities.
CAN was dissatisfied with Dassanayake but was forced to extend his term for nearly six months.
Before that, the Ministry of Youth and Sports re-appointed Dassanayake as head coach with the backing of the government after CAN failed to appoint him citing poor financial condition of the cricket governing body.
Back then, Nepal's charismatic skipper Paras Khadka had said that he would quit playing cricket if Dassanayake was not re-appointed. That was one of the reasons for the government to extend Dassanayake term in July last year.
CAN is set to hold Dassanayake's farewell party on Saturday.
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