Matthew Hayden, Vernon Philander join Pakistan's coaching staff for T20 World Cup 2021
Pakistan Cricket Board has roped in Matthew Hayden and Vernon Philander for the T20 World Cup 2021. The mega announcement was made a few minutes after Ramiz Raja took over as board's chairman.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has made a couple of mega recruitments ahead of the T20 World Cup 2021 by roping in former Australia opener Matthew Hayden and former South Africa pacer Vernon Philander as coaches for the ICC event. The announcement was made in Ramiz Raja's presser after he took over as PCB's chairman.
The void in the coaching staff was created after head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis stepped down from their roles last week. Though the board roped in Abdul Razzaq and Saqlain Mushtaq, the appointments were only made for the upcoming series against New Zealand.
One of the most destructive openers, Hayden needs no introduction when it comes to the game. He was a member of Australia's T20 World Cup squad in 2007. In total, he played 9 T20Is, scoring 308 runs with a strike rate of 143.92. He also played 103 Tests and 161 ODIs in an international career that spanned 15 years.
Philander didn't have a long white-ball career for South Africa but he was part of the 2007 T20 WC team. The right-arm pacer scalped 4 wickets in 7 T20Is. He was South Africa's frontline Test bowler and dismissed 224 batsmen in 64 matches before retiring in 2020. He also played 30 ODIs.
Hayden will soon land in India for the commentary duties for IPL 2021. He will likely have an early exit from the T20 league as it ends on October 15, just 2 days before the start of the World Cup.
Pakistan kick off their T20 World Cup campaign against India on October 24. Babar Azam will be leading the Men in Green in the tournament, his first as the captain.
The selection committee made some surprising calls as they dropped Sarfaraz Ahmed and kept senior opener Fakhar Zaman on the reserve players' list.
Pakistan's T20 World Cup squad: Babar Azam (Captain), Shadab Khan (VC), Asif Ali, Azam Khan, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Junior, Shaheen Afridi, Sohaib Maqsood
Source: TimesNow