Coach Monty Desai on Nepal transformation: ‘Even I don’t know what has changed’

Former UAE batting consultant will be up against his former charges in Cricket World Cup League 2 in Dubai on Thursday

Nepal coach Monty Desai during the Cricket World Cup qualifying match against Papua New Guinea at Dubai International Stadium. Ruel Pableo for The National

It is less than a year since the UAE struck their highest one-day international score, racking up a massive 348-3 against a Namibia attack that included franchise-cricket star David Wiese. And yet, so troubled have times been since, that day in Sharjah last March already feels sepia-tinted.

Forget about 300. The national team have managed to reach 200 just twice in their past nine innings in ODIs.

The issue needs addressing fast, because on Thursday, they face a fixture against Nepal in Dubai that could go a long way to deciding their World Cup qualifying fate.

The two sides are vying for the one remaining automatic qualifying berth for the global World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe in June.

Ahead of the encounter, all the momentum appears to be with the touring side. While the UAE’s form has been fitful, at best, Nepal are on a roll having won five ODIs in succession.

In that time, Nepal have surpassed 200 in each innings. Three of those scores were in excess of 275, and the other two were successful run chases. Prior to that, they had gone 11 matches without reaching 200.

The run of form has coincided with the appointment last month of a new coach. The man himself, Monty Desai, a qualified mechanical engineer from Mumbai who was formerly a scout for Rajasthan Royals, says he is at a loss to explain the transformation.

“How has it changed? Even I don’t know, to be honest,” Desai said.

“I am just trying to play my role sincerely. Where we have connected well is that some of the boys have known me since Under-19 times.

“I am guessing they knew that my approach was going to be very similar to what I did at that time. We have been able to build trust together very quickly.

“The importance of roles, the importance of plans, and understanding in what phase of the game that role is important – those are skills we possess, and we have had a lot of healthy conversations around that.”

As well as previously working with Nepal’s age-group sides, one of Desai’s past roles was as batting consultant to the side who he will be hoping to get the better of this week.

He was the batting consultant for the UAE for six months in 2019. He might have stayed, too, had UAE not missed out on the T20 World Cup, after a troubled qualifying campaign that year.

So well-received was his input, for one fixture in the Netherlands the head coach, Dougie Brown, demoted himself in rank and promoted Desai to take the role instead. The UAE won, to complete a T20I series clean sweep.

The players from that time remember a warm-hearted coach who had a habit of writing “happy dressing room” on the board, as well as the Hindi words for “stay together”.

“I do write ‘happy dressing room’ everywhere,” Desai said, after Nepal claimed a four-wicket win over Papua New Guinea earlier this week in Dubai.

“That is part of my coaching philosophy. The most important thing is the environment you create.

“What I mean by happy dressing room is also being able to have some uncomfortable conversations when required.

“Family is a big word. At the moment, having a happy dressing room is about building the team.

“Family requires a lot more character. That doesn’t come overnight. It will happen over a much longer journey, when sometimes you don’t get the results, and it's about how you respond to that.

“Sometimes you feel you deserve to be in X, Y or Z position in the game, but you are being asked to play a different role.

“It is about how you respond to those kinds of requests from the team, and how much you are enjoying others’ success, and how you are off the field in terms of behaviour.

“When we get that, that is when I feel we will be a family, but at the moment we are building a team.”

Desai played down the impact he had in his short stint in UAE cricket, but says he has enjoyed their successes from afar, such as when they qualified for the T20 World Cup in Australia last year.

“They have been showing why they are one of the best Associate sides around, and did well in the World Cup last year,” Desai said.

“For me, it is good to see the transition some of the youngsters have made into the senior team.

“They are a good, solid team. There are no secrets to it about how to tackle them. They are 300-ball battles.”