Azhar Mahmood reveals his plans as the new Islamabad United head coach

Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Islamabad United recently appointed former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood as their new head coach, replacing South African Johan Botha.

The decision was taken on a two-part basis; one, to recapture the much-needed spark that went missing in recent campaigns and two, to secure an important cog in the Multan Sultans' setup which propelled them to new heights in PSL 6.

Azhar Mahmood, who was part of Islamabad United's winning campaign in the inaugural season, has now been reunited after moving to Multan Sultans and Karachi Kings as their bowling coach.

Speaking about this transition and what to expect from Islamabad United in PSL 2022, Azhar Mahmood spoke to PakPassion in an interview.

"I am very honoured and pleased by the fact that Islamabad United have appointed me as their Head Coach. I have been coaching for a number of years with the highlight of my career being the Champions Trophy-winning Bowling Coach for Pakistan," said Azhar.

"I felt that it was about time that I took the next logical step forward in my career and take on the role of a Head Coach which I am really looking forward to. I am of course indebted to Islamabad United for giving me this opportunity and hopefully we will do better than last time in this year’s tournament," Azhar added.

The all-rounder expressed his desire to hire a qualified batting consultant who can help the Islamabad United players with their power-hitting.

"I would like to enhance their [Islamabad United players] talents further in the area of power-hitting which will not only help Islamabad but will also serve the interests of Pakistan as well. For this reason, I will be looking for a well-qualified batting consultant who has a firm understanding of human body motion to help players develop their power-hitting skills. I have a few such experts in mind and would like to bring them with me to Islamabad," said Azhar.

Azhar Mahmood has previously also worked with the Pakistan national team, which implies that he has already worked with a handful of talent present in the Islamabad United squad. Speaking about that, Azhar said that he feels he will have a head start as he already knows most players.

"I am also looking forward to working with Alex Hales and Paul Stirling and the newer players picked in the draft," he further added.

The former Multan Sultans coach said that his previous organisation did not object to his decision to part ways as they were also well aware that the Islamabad United head coach role is a huge opportunity.

" At the end of the day, my decision was only based upon advancing my career and I will always remain grateful to the Multan Sultans management for their support. In fact, they did not object to my leaving as they could see that the move to Islamabad United as a Head Coach was a great opportunity for my future. I did get some offers before for Head Coach, but I didn’t have that much experience back then, but this time around, I felt that I was prepared and more experienced to take on a bigger role," added Azhar.