Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday announced that Abdul Rehman and Umar Gul will be the head coach and bowling coach respectively for the side during the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan later this month.
Abdul Rehman is a seasoned coach and has achievements to his credit. He was the head coach of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when they won National T20 and Pakistan Cup and shared Quaid-e-Azam Trophy with Central Punjab. He also won two National T20s as head coach of Peshawar Panthers and was Peshawar Zalmi’s assistant coach when they won the HBL Pakistan Super League in 2017.
Rehman has also been assistant coach under Andy Flower at Multan Sultans for the last four years. He was Pakistan U19 coach during Bangladesh’s tour of Multan in November last year.
Umar Gul, one of the most celebrated T20 bowlers in Pakistan, was Afghanistan’s bowling coach in the recent ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup 2022. He took 85 wickets at 16.97 in 60 T20Is from 2007-16.
Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Majeed will continue their roles as batting and fielding coaches.
Pakistan also decided to rest several key regulars for the series, including Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan. Imad Wasim and Faheem Ashraf received call up for the first time. Shadab Khan will take over the reins of Pakistan’s T20I side against Afghanistan in the absence of regular captain Babar Azam.
Several exciting new talents such as Ihsanullah, Saim Ayub, Tayyab Tahir and Zaman Khan are in line for their T20I debuts after impressing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) while the likes of Abdullah Shafique, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf and Imad Wasim have earned a recall.
Pakistan will depart for the UAE on March 22 for the series commencing on March 24 in what will be the first multi-game bilateral assignment between the two sides.
All three games will be played in Sharjah where Afghanistan will be in the hunt for their first limited-overs victory over Pakistan. (ANI)
