Pakistan’s former pace bowler Umar Gul has been named Afghanistan national team’s new bowling coach.
His contract runs until the end of this year and his stint with the team will start with their upcoming limited-overs tour of Zimbabwe in June.
Umar Gul was previously employed by the Afghanistan Cricket Board as its bowling consultant during a training and preparation camp in the UAE in April while former Pakistan captain Younis Khan worked as a batting consultant alongside him.
He replaced Abdur Razzaq as the bowling coach of Quetta Gladiators in the PSL last year to kickstart his post-playing career.
The 39-year-old certainly does not lack any coaching experience having gotten to do so in PSL, the Kashmir Premier League, and the Lanka Premier League with Galle Gladiators
Gul “worked with the fast bowlers in our national line-up 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,” the board said in a statement.
Umar Gul retired from all forms of cricket in October 2020 with 47 Tests, 130 ODIs, and 60 T20Is under his belt for Pakistan between 2003 and 2016 picking up 163, 179 and 85 wickets respectively.
Afghanistan will play Zimbabwe in three ODIs, part of the World Cup Super League, and three T20Is, all of which will be played between June 4 and 14 in Harare.
