As per Cricbuzz, former Pakistan captain Younis Khan will serve as a mentor of the Afghanistan side in the forthcoming 2025 Champions Trophy. He will replace Ajay Jadeja, who donned the role of Afghanistan’s assistant coach/mentor for the 2023 ODI World Cup.
The Asian side was without a mentor in the 2024 T20 World Cup, where they clinched their maiden semifinal spot in the ICC events under head coach Jonathan Trott.
Interestingly, Younis was appointed as the coach of Afghanistan in 2017, however, he chose to decline the offer. Nevertheless, he worked as Afghanistan’s batting consultant for their 15-day training camp in UAE in 2022.
“ACB has assigned former experienced top order Pakistani player Younis Khan as Mentor for Champions Trophy 2025. He (Younis) will join the team before the event starts in Pakistan,” Sayeed Naseem Sadat, the spokesman of ACB, confirmed to Cricbuzz on Wednesday.
Younis played from 2000-2017 and ended as the second highest run-scorer for Pakistan across all formats with 17,790 runs in 408 games, with 41 centuries and 83 fifties. He was the first batter from the country to go past 10,000 runs in Test cricket in 2017. Under his leadership, the Men in Green clinched the 2009 T20 World Cup title.
From June 2020- June 2021, Younis Khan held the role of Pakistan’s batting coach, including the 2022 T20 World Cup. Apart from this, he has coached Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and also served as the head coach for the Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10 League.
Afghanistan recently completed an ODI and Test series victory over Zimbabwe
Recently, Afghanistan were on a tour to Zimbabwe to play a three-match ODI series and a two-game Test series. After the first game of the 50-over format was washed out, they went on to secure a 232-run victory in the second game. Then, the Hashmatullah Shahidi-led side won the final game by eight wickets to complete a 2-0 series victory.
Thereafter, the first Test fixture saw both teams piling on a truckload of runs in their respective first innings, with Afghanistan posting 699 and taking a first-innings lead of 113 runs. However, the game ended in a draw.
The second and final Test was affected by the rain, but the impressive bowling performances from both sides made the match competitive. Rashid Khan returned with 11 wickets and 48 runs to help Afghanistan secure a 72-run victory and also a 1-0 series win.
FAQs
What was Younis Khan’s captaincy record in Tests?
1 win, 3 draws and 5 losses in 9 games
Which team beat Afghanistan in 2024 T20 World Cup semifinals?
South Africa
