PAK vs NZ: Yasir Arafat Appointed As New High Performance Coach By PCB

The Pakistan Cricket Board has designated Yasir Arafat, a former all-rounder, as the high-performance coach for the national team during the upcoming five-match T20 series against New Zealand next month.

Yasir Arafat is set to travel from London to Lahore and will subsequently accompany the Pakistan white-ball players to New Zealand, where the series of five matches is slated to commence on January 12.

The Pakistani selectors have already revealed a 17-member squad for the T20 series in New Zealand, strategically viewed as part of the preparation for the ICC World Cup in the West Indies and the USA next year.

“Yasir’s appointment came about on the recommendation of the national team’s director Muhammad Hafeez who is calling the shots in Australia even above captain, Shah Masood.” – a source said.

Yasir, who previously sought the position of bowling coach earlier this year during the PCB’s pursuit of Mickey Arthur as the head coach, possesses coaching qualifications and has prior experience working in New Zealand and England.

A source indicated that Yasir will take over from Simon Helmut, the current high-performance coach for the ongoing Test series in Australia. This marks the fifth coaching appointment with the Pakistan team since Hafeez assumed the role of Director.

Under Hafeez’s tenure, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal were appointed as the team’s fast and spin bowling coaches, followed by the short-term appointments of Adam Hollioake and Simon Helmut as batting coach and high-performance coach, respectively, for the three-Test series in Australia.

It will be interesting to see how this decision pans out for them as Pakistan needs to win the Boxing Day 2nd Test at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. If they lose the 2nd Test they will not just lose the West Test series but also drop points in the ICC World Test Championship 2023-2025 cycle’s points table.

In the first Test, Shan Masood’s side suffered an embarrassing loss by 360 runs. Their batting as well as bowling department looked totally out of place. No batter other than Imam Ul-Haq was able to score a half-century.

As a matter of fact, no Pakistani batter was able to even score 30 runs in the 4th innings while attempting to chase down a gigantic total of 450 runs. Pakistan were all out for just 89 runs and it will be fair to say that only a miracle can help them produce a turnaround in the remaining 2 Tests.

The last time Pakistan won a Test match at Australia was way back in 1995/1996 when a Wasim Akram-led side defeated the Aussies by 74 runs at the Sydney Cricket Ground. However, it was merely a consolation win as Australia had already won the series by 2-0.

Can Yasir Arafat Help Begin A New Era In Pakistan Cricket?

With Yasir Arafat taking over as the new high-performance coach, there are hopes of things improving in Pakistan cricket. He was a part of the Pakistani team that won the 2009 ICC T20 World Cup in England.

After doing a decent job with the U-19 Pakistan team as the bowling coach, Yasir Arafat could help begin a new era of success for Cricket in Pakistan.

Though his International career was quite short-lived, Yasir Arafat took 29 wickets in 27 matches for Pakistan across all formats.