Pakistan's Tour Of Australia 2023-24: PCB Enlists Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal As Bowling Coaches For Tour Of Australia And New Zealand

Former Pakistan bowlers, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal have been appointed as the fast bowling and spin bowling coaches of the national squad for the upcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand. (World Cup 2023 | Cricket News)

Umar, a member of the 2009 World T20 winning squad, has worked before with the Pakistan team as bowling coach, while this is the first time Saeed has been given an assignment with the national side.

The Pakistan Cricket Board said that initial assignments for both former stalwarts would include the Test series against Australia scheduled from 14 December 14 to January 7 and the T20I series against New Zealand from January 12 to 21 next year.

The board has already named Muhammad Hafeez as the Director and head coach of the Pakistan squad and fast bowler  Wahab Riaz as the new chief selector in a spate of changes after the national team's poor World Cup campaign.

The induction of Umar and Saeed and Hafeez’s assignment basically means that the foreign coaches, including Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn will no longer be working with the national side.

Bowling coach, South Africa’s Morne Morkel had already resigned last week while the fielding coach has also been changed.

Umar previously served as the bowling coach during the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan, and the subsequent series against New Zealand at home. He has also been the bowling coach for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League.

He has also coached the Afghanistan squad.

Saeed, the champion off-spinner, whose career was derailed in 2015 after the ICC officials had reported his bowling action, represented his country in 35 Tests, 113 ODIs, and 64 T20Is, picking up 447 wickets across the three formats. 

He has also served as the spin bowling coach with the PSL franchise Islamabad United.