Having Umar Gul as bowling coach is a big plus for Afghanistan: Asghar Afghan

Afghanistan are up against Pakistan in their second Super 4 clash of 2022 Asia Cup, at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday. They lost their first match against Sri Lanka despite scoring 175 runs while batting first and need a win against Pakistan to remain in the race for the final. Pakistan beat India in their first Super-Four match on Tuesday and are favorites to win against Afghanistan as well.

In a pre-match conference before the Pakistan clash, Afghanistan's bowling coach Umar Gul stated that their bowlers have a plan against star Pakistani batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. “Babar and Rizwan are world-class players. Definitely, we have planned against them as professionals as we do for the other teams. So obviously, we are hoping that our players can execute those plannings against them,” Gul said.

Umar Gul must have a plan to stop Babar and Rizwan: Asghar Afghan

The former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan has stated that bowlers can benefit from having Gul as their bowling coach ahead. He also said that it will be up to the bowlers to execute the plan as they have faced Pakistan many times in recent times. Notably, the same group of bowlers that bowled out Sri Lanka for 105 and Bangladesh for 127 runs in the group stage fixtures struggled to defend against Sri Lanka in the Super 4 clash. 

"No doubt that Umar Gul was Pakistan's experienced bowler and has played a lot of cricket with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. Obviously, he has a plan to stop them but it is up to the bowlers to execute those on the pitch," Afghan said on Bat Bricks7 presents Run Ki Runneeti on CricTracker in Afghanistan-Pakistan pre-match show.

"We have played a lot of cricket against Pakistan in recent times and our bowlers know where to bowl against the likes of Babar and Rizwan. And it's a plus point for our bowlers to have Umar Gul as a coach as he will be telling them on how to stop Pakistani batters," he added.