Mushtaq Ahmed signs as Windies' assistant coach

Former Pakistani tweaker Mushtaq Ahmed has recently signed as the assistant coach of the Windies and is on a contract, which will need him to commit 150 days in a year. He has ended his stint as the spin bowling coach of Pakistan’s National Cricket Academy, which was renewed earlier this year in April. He has previously worked with both Pakistan and England.

He served as Pakistan’s bowling coach for 18 months after which he was replaced by Azhar Mahmood back in 2016. Since then the 48-year-old has been an indispensable member of the NCA in Lahore. In the meantime, the retired spinner was set to join the Windies from the ongoing India tour, but couldn’t due to visa glitches as per reports in ESPNcricinfo.

He is now set to join the team during the Windies tour of Bangladesh, which gets underway next month. The tour will start with a two-day practice match in Chittagong followed by a two-match Test series. The series also consists of three T20Is and as many ODIs. Earlier in May this year, Mushtaq worked with the Windies for one month as their short-term spin bowling coach.

Plenty to do for Windies

Jason Holder’s men are currently in India where they are playing a five-match ODI series. They lost the first match in Guwahati after which they tied in Visakhapatnam courtesy of Shimron Hetmyer and Shai Hope’s superlative knocks. The third match of the series will be played in Pune. Previously, they were whitewashed in the two-match Test series.

The Windies haven’t had the best of times of late in cricket at the highest level. Last year, they finished ninth in the rankings and couldn’t make a direct entry into next year’s World Cup in England and Wales. However, they qualified for the final of the qualifiers earlier this year in Zimbabwe and booked their places in the upcoming 50-overs extravaganza.

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from India vs West Indies series, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.