T10 League 2018: Dean Jones to coach Pakhtoons

The second edition of the T10 League will take place in the United Arab Emirates between November 23 and December 2 and former Australian batsman Dean Jones will coach the Pakhtoons side led by former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, who is also their icon player. The first edition of the tournament was played in 2017 with Kerala Kings lifting the title.

Jones, who played 52 Tests and 164 ODIs between 1984 and 1994, has already made a name for himself as a coach. It was under his tutelage in 2016 and 2018 that Islamabad United won the Pakistan Super League. He also served as Afghanistan’s interim head coach in Intercontinental Cup for a tour of Hong Kong last year.

The news of the 57-year-old former right-hand batsman becoming the head coach of the Pakhtoon side was confirmed in a tweet by T10 League.

Jones’ first official duty in his new role was to select eight players of the Pakhtoon squad for the league, which was turned into an eight-team affair from six after its success last year, at the T10 players’ draft on September 25 night, Sport360 reported.

“You don’t get everyone that you want but geez there’s some strong teams,” Jones was quoted as saying when he was asked whether he was content with the team.

Trying to find out right formula

“It’s trying to find out the right formula. You’re trying to find the formula to the solution to the Rubik’s cube really – how to play T10.”

On the team selection, Jones said he picked left-hand quick bowlers with an economy rate of nine and leg-spinner with a rate of 8.9. “So we’ve all gone for left-hand quicks and try to mix it up with right hand-left hand batters,” he said.

The Pakthoons are clubbed with Karachians, Rajputs and defenders Kerala Kings in Group A of the tournament.
In August, it was confirmed on behalf of the T10 League organisers that the International Cricket Council officially sanctioned the second season of the league.

Squad: Shahid Afridi (icon player and captain), Colin Ingram, Mohammad Irfan, David Willey, Liam Dawson, Andre Fletcher, Sharfuddin Ashraf, Colin Munro, Chadwick Walton, Shapoor Zadran, Sohail Khan, Cameron Delport and Gulbadin Naib.

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