Manoj Prabhakar appointed as Afghanistan's bowling coach

Manoj Prabhakar has been appointed as Afghanistan Cricket Team’s bowling coach.

Former India all-rounder, Manoj Prabhakar has been appointed as the bowling coach of the Afghanistan Cricket Team. His term would continue until the T20 World Cup to be held in India next year.

Prabhakar is currently training the Afghan bowlers for their upcoming series against Zimbabwe, at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida, India, after Afghanistan acquired the stadium as their home ground, in a historic deal with the BCCI.

“I am glad I can guide the Afghan team. They have immense talent and I am sure, in the years to come, the Afghanistan team would emerge as a force to reckon with in all forms of the game. They have shown a healthy keenness to learn the finer points of the game,” said Prabhakar.

The team was looking at the possibility of hosting Zimbabwe for a series at the aforementioned venue, but the stadium didn’t meet ICC standards.

“We would soon have things in place in order to host an international event,” Venkat Sundaram, in-charge of the cricket activities at the stadium.said.

With Noida out of contention, the Afghans looked at Visakhapatnam as a probable venue, but preferred Dubai because of the crowd support that they might get there in the Arab city. Afghanistan head coach, and former Pakistan captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq will join the team in Dubai.

For Prabhakar, it is a welcome opportunity, whose last tenure as the coach of the Delhi ended on a sour note, when he was relieved of his responsibilities after speaking out against the management.

Prabhakar played 39 Tests and 130 ODIs for India picking up 96 and 157 wickets respectively.

Earlier in the month, in a historic agreement, the Afghanistan Cricket Board and the BCCI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority, in order to use the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex as Afghanistan’s home ground.

It was a significant development, as Afghanistan will now be able to host other Associate Nations as well as Full-member A teams for competitive cricket at their home ground in India.