KATHMANDU: The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has appointed former Indian cricketer Devika Palshikar as the consultant coach to the Nepali national women’s cricket team. The appointment takes place at a time when Nepal is preparing for the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier.

Previously Palshikar worked as the assistant coach for India and Bangladesh, and the batting coach to the Mumbai Indians Club for the last season’s Women’s Premier League. She worked for India as an assistant coach (From 2014 to 2016), and for Bangladesh (2018).

The participating teams in the Asia Qualifier scheduled to take place in Malaysia from coming August 31 to September 9 are divided into two groups. Nepal is in Group ‘A’. Together with Nepal, hosts Malaysia, Bahrain, Bhutan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar are in Group ‘A’. Similarly, China, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Thailand, and Myanmar are placed in Group ‘B’ of the tournament.

The top two teams of each group will play the semi-final and the two teams reaching the finals will get a chance to play in the Global Qualifier.

The Nepali line-up selected for the tournament includes Rubina Chhetri (Captain), Sita Rana Magar, Indu Barma, Apsari Begum, Kabita Kunwar, Kabita Joshi, Asmina Karmacharya, Ishwori Bista, Kritika Marasini, Bindu Rawal, Neri Thapa, Kajol Shrestha, Samjhana Khadka, Saraswoti Chaudhary, Sneha Mahara, Shristi Jaisi, Kanchan Shrestha, Roma Thapa, Sabnam Rai, Puja Mahato, Khusi Dongol, Manisha Chaudhary, Jyoti Pandey and Ruby Poddar.