Former Pakistani fast bowler, Umar Gul, has been selected as Afghanistan’s new bowling coach. The first contract is for the rest of the year. He’ll begin in June with Afghanistan’s limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe where they are set to play three ODIs and as many T20Is.
“Gul was recently employed by the Afghanistan Cricket Board as the bowling consultant for the recently held training and preparation camp in UAE in April. The Pakistani veteran worked with the fast bowlers in our national lineup and considering his effectiveness in the camp as well as based on the need, it was decided to offer him a permanent contract as the national team’s bowling coach,” said a statement from the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB).
Umar Gul was hired by the Afghanistan Cricket Board as a bowling consultant. He was hired during a training and preparation camp in the UAE in April. He replaced Abdur Razzaq as the bowling coach of Quetta Gladiators in the PSL last year. Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan was brought in as a batting consultant to the camp.
Afghanistan also hired Graham Thorpe as their new head coach earlier this year, after Lance Klusener, who stepped down.
Gul, aged 39, retired from all forms of cricket in October 2020, having played 47 Tests (163 wickets at 34.06), 130 One-Day Internationals (179 wickets at 29.34), and 60 Twenty-20 Internationals (85 wickets at 16.97) for Pakistan between 2003 and 2016.
Afghanistan’s team departed for Zimbabwe on Wednesday afternoon for a series of three ODIs and three T20Is. It will take place in Harare from June 4 to 14
When Gul was asked about his coaching philosophy he had said, “Your actual job starts when a player is down and going through a rough patch. Form, good or bad, is inevitable. You can easily lose your way with one patch of bad form and fade away like you never existed.”
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