07, August 2012 (Cricturf) : Waqar Younis,the former right arm fast bowler from Pakistan who is renowned as one of the all time legends has been selected as the Coach of the Ruhuna Royals team at the Sri Lank Premier League starting from 11th August 2012. Pakistani legend has the record of being the youngest Test captain of the country and the third youngest in the cricket history at 22 years. During his career of 14 years (1989 to 2003) , he has played 87 Test matches and 262 One Day Internationals for Pakistan with 373 Test match wickets and 416 ODI wickets along with 956 first class wickets.
Photo: Waqar Younis at Ruhuna Royal Practices ( Picture Curtsy Ruhuna Royals Facebook Page)
Coach Waqar expressing his opinion about the balance and dynamics of the Ruhuna Royals team added that “Looking at the team I think it’s fairly balanced – we’ve got a couple of youngsters, the under 19 guys and then we’ve got the experienced guys like Ryan Harris and Jerome Taylor. I think it’s a blend of youth and of course a bit of experience and putting them together will be a great learning curve for all of us. Coaching a team that comes from all around the world is a great experience, With all of this, I’m sure that we’re going to put up a good show. We’ve got a couple of match winners on the side and the bowling line up is pretty strong when you look at it. And the strategy is very simple – you go out there, express yourself and make sure that you deliver your goods and be positive."
The CEO of Ruhuna Royals, Mir Dinmay Rawat in his opinion said that ‘We believed that getting the best support staff was paramount to the success of the team. Waqar’s experience in the subcontinent, and his coaching experience will be key in the success of the tournament. With two very talented fast bowlers in the team, Taylor and Malinga, we believe that Waqar will be the ideal person to fine tune the match-winning talent these guys possess.’
The team has also hired Hashan Thilakarathne, one of the Sri Lanka's most senior cricketers as well as an important member from the 96 World Cup wininng team as the manager of the team.
Furthermore, expressing his idea about the entire Sri Lankan Premier League and the concept Waqar Younis added that "‘Overall, it will help Sri Lankan cricket, because we’ve seen that wherever League cricket has been played, young cricketers have blossomed and given them confidence and a lot of courage and opportunities to play with the greats of the game. I think this will do exactly the same to Sri Lankan cricket. I think it’ll help to grow as a cricketing nation and get used to T20 cricket before the world cup."
The Sri Lankan Premier League will kick off on the 10th of August with the opening ceremony and the matches will officially start from the 11th of August with the starting match between Ruhuna Royals and Nagenahira Nagas.
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