Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal appointed bowling coaches of Pakistan team
The Pakistan Cricket Board
has taken steps to address the poor performance of the Pakistan team in the
World Cup by appointing former national cricketers Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal as
the team's bowling coaches. Umar Gul will be coaching the fast bowlers while
Saeed Ajmal will be coaching the spin bowlers. The PCB made an official
announcement of these appointments on social media and also issued a press
release.
Umar Gul has previously
served as the bowling coach of the Pakistan Men's team during the three-match
T20I series against Afghanistan and then the home series against New Zealand.
He made his international debut in 2003 and has taken 378 wickets for Pakistan
in all three formats.
Former world number one ODI
bowler Saeed Ajmal, who made his debut in international cricket in 2008, has
represented Pakistan in 35 Tests, 113 ODIs and 64 T20 matches, taking 447
wickets.
Pakistan's bowling attack
was very ineffective in the mega event and could not deliver its traditional
performance. Both will have their first assignment with the national team for
the Test series in Australia followed by the T20 series in New Zealand.
Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal
have called it an honor to be given the responsibilities of bowling coach of
the national team and said that they will try to use their skills to take
Pakistan's bowling attack to new heights.
It should be noted that
after the embarrassing defeat in the World Cup, the team and the management are
in turmoil. Chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq resigned during the mega event.
Immediately after the World Cup, bowling coach Morne Morkel also terminated his
contract early and moved to South Africa, while Babar Azam also announced his
resignation from all three formats.
The PCB then named Shaun
Masood as the Test team captain and Shaheen Shah as the T20 captain. Muhammad
Hafeez has been appointed as team director in place of Mickey Arthur, Wahab
Riaz as chief selector and Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal as bowling coaches while
Muhammad Yousuf and Sohail Tanveer have been given important responsibilities
in junior cricket.
