Shoaib Akhtar joins Lahore Qalandars as team mentor

KARACHI: Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar, also known as the Rawalpindi Express, joined PSL franchise Lahore Qalandars as the team’s mentor.

42-year old Shoaib Akhtar, who has represented Pakistan in 46 Tests and 163 ODIs, was revealed as the team’s mentor by Lahore Qalandars chairman Fawad Rana during a press conference in Lahore on Friday.

“I am honored to announce that Shoaib Akhtar has joined Qalandars family and he’ll mentor our players,” said Fawad.

Shoaib Akhtar said that he’s excited to be part of Lahore Qalandars and aimed to train young fast bowlers, spotted by the franchise during the players development program Jazz Rising Stars.

“I am honored and privileged to be a part of this, extremely excited and thrilled,” he said.

“I want fast bowlers to perform aggressively and will mentor these bowlers to become what a fast bowler should be,” said the former bowler who was once the fastest bowler in the cricketing world.

The fast bowler from Rawalpindi also praised Lahore Qalandars' talent hunt program, saying that it would promote new talent and serve Pakistan in the longer run.

“I have never seen a talent hunt program of such huge scale in my career,” said Shoaib.

Shoaib’s first task with the Qalandar family, as it seems, will be to mentor newly found fast bowler Haris Rauf who – according to Aqib Javed – is one of the fastest bowlers in the present era.

Haris was spotted during open trials in Gujranwala last month. The young bowler has also signed a contract with Lahore Qalandars franchise and will be part of team’s development squad for the tour of Australia.