Younis Khan, Umar Gul named as consultants of Afghan cricket team

Pakistan’s former captain and batting coach Younis Khan and right-arm fast bowler Umar Gul have been named as the batting and bowling consultants respectively of Afghanistan’s cricket team for the upcoming tour of the United Arab Emirates.

Younis Khan finished his international career having a test average of over 50 (52.05), scoring over 10 thousands runs, with 34 hundreds (a triple hundred & 6 double hundreds) and 33 fifties to his name in 118 test matches he has played for his country, Afghanistan Cricket Board said in a statement on Saturday.

Khan has also represented Pakistan in 265 One Day Internationals (ODIs) from Feb 2000 to Nov 2015, where he scored 7249 runs at 31.24 with 7 centuries and 48 half-centuries to his name. As a captain, he has enjoyed the success of taking Pakistan to the T20 World Cup glory in 2009.

Umar Gul meanwhile has played 237 international matches for Pakistan in which he has 427 scalps to his name and is considered as one of the most successful fast bowlers in the history of Pakistan cricket, especially in T20Is.

After announcing retirement from all forms of the game in 2020, Gul took to the coaching roles in different levels, He has been the bowling coach for the Quetta Gladiators in Pakistan Super League (PSL), and has also accompanied the coaching staff in the Kashmir Premier League (KPL) and the Galle Gladiators team in the Lanka Premier League (LPL).

“The UAE camp is a great opportunity for the players to get adequate training in the relevant departments of the game and get fully prepared for the future competitions,” ACB CEO Naseeb Khan said. “Younis Khan and Umar Gul have rich experience of international cricket and I am sure they will help our boys overcome the concerns they have got in the batting and bowling departments”.

ACB recently named former English middle-order batter Graham Thorpe as the new head coach of Afghanistan cricket team.