Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis to work together in the third edition of PSL

The Pakistan team had everything one would ask for from a pace bowling attack back in the day when Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis ruled the roost. One was the king of swing, while the other moved the ball at a lethal pace. Their incredible partnership is now making a return in the Pakistan Super League’s (PSL) third edition. Earlier in June, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had confirmed the addition of a sixth franchise named Multan Sultans will be part of the league.

The right-arm pacer Waqar would join the franchise in the capacity of a mentor as well as the head coach, while Wasim is appointed as the cricket operations director. The latter has left the mentor’s role for the Islamabad United after being with the franchise for the last two seasons. However, it is being learnt that the agreement will be signed in Karachi, later this month.

Coaching experience of Wasim and Waqar

Akram was with Islamabad since the inception of the league. He played an important role in their victorious campaign in the inaugural season in 2015. However, the second edition did not go well for the franchise as three of their key players-Mohammad Irfan, Khalid Latif and Sharjeel Khan were pulled out of the tournament after their involvement in the corruption scandal came to light. As a result, Islamabad United failed to qualify for the knockout stages.

On the other hand, Waqar Younis was with the national team as the head coach, but only to be removed from the position after the ICC T20 World Cup 2016 in India. The former pacer was not part of the PSL in the previous two editions.

The new franchise

Earlier in June 2017, the Schon Group, a Dubai based enterprise well-established in the real estate business, had won the rights to own the sixth franchise of PSL and chose Multan as its team. The rights were sold by the PCB for eight years. The new franchise would certainly have their eyes set on the 3rd edition of the competition to be held in 2018.