Former South Africa speedster Morne Morkel set to become bowling coach of Pakistan

Former South Africa speedster Morne Morkel is set to be named the new bowling coach of the Pakistan men's team and he will be accompanied by his compatriot Andrew Puttick who will be their new batting coach. In addition to the newly announced appointments, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will have Mickey Arthur as their consultant as he will continue to shoulder his responsibilities as the head coach of Derbyshire.

The PCB wants Arthur to function as their team director and he played a key role in forming a coaching group that comprises multiple overseas names. Grant Bradburn who was the fielding coach of Pakistan earlier will now have the responsibility to be their head coach. In addition to that, Cliffe Deacon and Dri­kus Saaiman will be the new physiotherapist and strength and conditioning coach respectively.

Although Morkel doesn't have a lot of coaching experience, he still has enough that makes him a good candidate for the gig in the days to come. Morkel will take up his duties as soon as the 16th edition of the IPL gets over as he is the bowling coach of Lucknow Super Giants.

He is also the bowling coach of Durban's Super Giants in the SA20. Previously he worked with Namibia as a part of their coaching staff during the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia. He was also associated with the White Ferns during the Women's T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2023.

Pakistan's young brigade faces series loss to Afghanistan

The Shadab Khan-led team faced a 2-1 defeat in the recently concluded three-match T20I series in Sharjah. Pakistan lost the first two games on the trot as the young blood failed to deliver. But Pakistan came back strongly in the third T20I and saved themselves from humiliation as they won the contest by 61 runs.

Pakistan had rested their big superstars for the series. Skipper Babar Azam, wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan, and pacers Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf didn't participate in the series because of their workload management.