Matthew Hayden, Vernon Philander named Pakistan coaches for T20 World Cup

Lahore, Sep 13: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday (September 13) announced appointing former Australia batsman Matthew Hayden and ex-South Africa pacer Vernon Philander as coaches of the men's team for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE.

The appointments were announced by the newly-elected Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja. The appointments of Hayden and Philander come just a week after head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis resigned from their respective posts after two years in the job.

"I think the Pakistan team needs a new direction. We have appointed Hayden and Philander for the World Cup," Raja said during a press conference. "Going forward, we will have to carry out an extensive exercise in this regard in order to look for people who fit our model.

"Our objective is to give this team the best possible options so that it leads to improvement in performances," he added.

The PCB had earlier roped in former Test spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and all-rounder Abdul Razzaq as interim coaches for the home series against New Zealand. Misbah and Waqar left their jobs with one year of their contracts still remaining.

Pakistan in the past has appointed many foreign coaches with relative success including Richard Pybus, Bob Woolmer, Geoff Lawson, Dav Whatmore and Mickey Arthur.

Hayden has played 103 Tests and scored 8625 runs, including 30 centuries, 29 half-centuries, at an average of 50.7. His score of 380 against Zimbabwe is still the second-highest individual total in Test cricket after Brian Lara's 400*.

The explosive left-handed batsman also played 161 ODIs and amassed 6133 runs and averaged 43.8. He also played 9 T20Is and averaged 51.3 in the shortest format.

In his injury-prone international career, Philander - who is hailed as one of the best seam bowlers for South Africa - played 64 Tests and picked up 224 wickets. In 30 ODIs he picked up 41 wickets while in 7 T20Is the right-arm quick scalped 4 wickets.