Former South Africa pacer Vernon Philander is eager to work with Pakistan’s youngsters, after being appointed the Men in Green’s bowling coach for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Philander, who played 64 Tests, 30 One-day Internationals (ODIs) and seven Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) over the course of his career, announced his retirement from international cricket last year and this will be his first stint in a coaching role.       

“Ramiz [Raja] obviously called me up and asked if I was interested in joining the Pakistan team. It is a huge opportunity which I couldn’t turn down. It's also really exciting to work with a group of skilful youngsters,” Philander told IOL Sport.

“Mohammad Hasnain is a really talented young bowler, and of course, there’s the big guy Shaheen Shah Afridi. I saw quite a bit of them during the recent series against South Africa and I am really excited to be working with them,” he added.

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The former right-armer is also keen on making Pakistan’s bowlers more consistent.

“I would like to think that I can add value in terms of bringing some form of consistency to this young attack. They are an exciting group and they also want to head in a direction where they play an attacking brand of cricket which is exciting to be a part of,” he concluded.  

Pakistan begin their T20 World Cup campaign with a blockbuster Super 12 stage match against arch-rivals India in Dubai on October 24.