Former Pakistani batsman Mohammad Wasim named Pakistan Women's head coach

Pakistan has announced that Mohammad Wasim, the former Pakistan batter and men's chief selector, will be the new head coach for the women's national team. This appointment comes just ahead of the Women's T20 Asia Cup, which begins on July 19.

Wasim is also expected to serve as the batting coach while former Pakistan bowlers Junaid Khan and Abdur Rehman have been appointed as assistant and spin-bowling coaches, respectively.

The permanent nature of these appointments has not been guaranteed. The PCB announcement confirmed that these appointments are only for the Asia Cup, which will be played in Sri Lanka from July 19 to 28.

The bulk of Mohammad Wasim's coaching career was with Northern, a Pakistan cricket domestic side that existed from 2019 to 2023. Wasim notably led Northern to consecutive runner-up finishes in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s premier domestic first-class competition. He also coached the Northern team during their National T20 Cup-winning campaign of 2019-20.

The Pakistan Women’s team has been coached by an interim coach for the past few series. Mohtashim Rasheed has served as head coach, while former international cricketers Taufeeq Umar and Salim Jaffar have served as the batting and bowling coaches, respectively.

The T20 Asia Cup will be a challenging outing for the Pakistan team as they come back from a string of difficult tours. Out of the eight T20Is played against West Indies and England, they only won one and remained winless in both ODI series. These results came after a year of mixed results for the national side. They most notably won a home T20I series against South Africa 3-0 and also became the first Asian team to win a T20I series in New Zealand.

While no squad has been announced yet for the Asia Cup, the PCB has named a 28-player contingent who will take part in a four-day training camp in Karachi.