LAHORE: The Pakis­tan cricket squad left on Wednesday for Sharjah, without batting coach Mohammad Yousuf, to play a three-match T20 International series agai­nst Afghanistan.

According to a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official, the 48-year-old Yousuf cited some personal reasons for not going to Sharjah for the March 24-27 series.

In place of Yousuf, interim head coach Abdul Rehman will take up the responsibility of batting coach too.

It may be mentioned here that Rehman was appointed head coach of the national team for the Afghanistan series with Yousuf and Umar Gul to work as batting and bowling coach, respectively.

Fourteen players and nine members of the support staff left for Sharjah. Pacer Naseem Shah, who is already in Dubai, will join the team later.

Squad: Shadab Khan (captain), Abdullah Shafique, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Saim Ayub, Shan Masood, Tayyab Tahir, Zaman Khan

Player support personnel: Mansoor Rana (manager), Abdul Rehman (head coach), Umar Gul (bowling coach), Abdul Majeed (fielding coach), Cliffe Deacon (physio), Talha Ijaz (analyst), Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi (media and digital manager), Drikus Saaimon (strength and conditioning coach), Col Usman Anwari (security manager)

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2023