Younis Khan Set to Join Afghanistan as Mentor for 2025 Champions Trophy: Reports
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New Delhi, Jan 8 (NationPress) Former captain of Pakistan, Younis Khan, will take on the role of mentor for the Afghanistan team during the 2025 Champions Trophy, as confirmed by sources from the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on Wednesday.
Previously, Younis served as Afghanistan's batting coach under a short-term contract in 2022.
"It is confirmed that Younis Khan will join the Afghanistan team as their mentor for the 2025 Champions Trophy. He will participate in the team's preparation and conditioning camp prior to the tournament commencing in Pakistan and will remain with the team until the conclusion of the Champions Trophy," sources in the ACB told IANS.
Younis concluded his international cricket career in 2017, having scored a total of 10,099 runs in 118 Tests, which includes a remarkable personal best of 313. He also accumulated 7,249 runs in 246 ODIs for Pakistan, maintaining an average of 31.24, with seven centuries and 48 half-centuries. Additionally, he led Pakistan to its first-ever Men's T20 World Cup victory in 2009 held in England.
In his coaching journey, Younis had a brief stint as the batting coach for the Pakistan senior men's team but stepped down after just six months in mid-2021. In franchise cricket, he has coached Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and served as head coach for the Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10 League.
The 2025 Champions Trophy is scheduled to take place in Pakistan and Dubai from February 19 to March 9, marking the first occasion that Afghanistan will participate in this eight-team tournament. They have been placed in Group B along with Australia, South Africa, and England, while Group A consists of Pakistan, India, New Zealand, and Bangladesh.
An Indian coach, who previously worked within the Afghanistan setup, informed IANS that Younis’s appointment as a mentor for the 2025 Champions Trophy aligns with the team's distinctive approach of hiring mentors or consultants from the nations where they participate in ICC tournaments.
Past ICC tournaments have demonstrated that this strategy has been fruitful for Afghanistan. In 2023, they engaged former Indian batsman Ajay Jadeja as their mentor for the ODI World Cup, where they garnered attention for their impressive performance, achieving four victories in the league stage, including a stunning win over the defending champions England in New Delhi.
During the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup, held in the USA and West Indies, they enlisted the legendary seam-bowling all-rounder Dwayne Bravo as their bowling consultant, which yielded substantial rewards as Afghanistan triumphed over New Zealand, Australia, and Bangladesh to advance to the semi-finals for the first time.
It will be intriguing to observe whether Younis’s involvement in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy yields similarly positive outcomes for Afghanistan, a team whose growth and achievements in international cricket have been a joy to witness.
