Daily Times

KABUL: Former fast bowler Hamid Hassan has been appointed as the bowling coach of Afghanistan starting with the three-match T20I series against Pakistan later this month. His contract is for one year. Hassan replaces former Pakistan pacer Umar Gul, whose contract had ended at the start of the year after the Afghanistan Cricket Board extended the contracts of only head coach Jonathan Trott and fielding coach Ryan Maron. “Cricket has been my life over the past two-three decades and is in fact something that has been my passion for my whole life,” Hassan was quoted as saying in a release by the ACB. “It’s a difficult decision for me to retire from the game I love the most, but I’m doing this for the sake of my country and my team.” Hassan’s last competitive cricket game was in October 2022 and is one of the players from their first batch of international cricketers who brought Afghanistan cricket on the world map. Hassan played his last ODI in the Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2019 and made his last T20I for Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup in 2021.