Vaas, Greenidge, Haddin all set to be part of the PSL

Sri Lanka, West Indies World Cup winning legends agree to coach in the league

KARACHI: Former Sri Lankan fast-bowler Chaminda Vaas, West Indian great Gordon Greenidge and ex-Indian all-rounder Robin Singh have all agreed to coach in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which is scheduled to be staged in February 2016 in the UAE.

So far, 15 coaches have agreed to be part of the PSL draft, including Vaas, Singh, Greenidge, South African Micky Aurthur and England’s Chris Adams.

The 52-year-old Singh played a solitary Test and 136 ODIs for India as he scored 2,336 runs and took 69 wickets in the 50-over format.

After retiring from cricket in 2004, he took up coaching with the junior teams of India and eventually became the fielding coach of the national side for two years from 2007 to 2009. Singh later went on to coach Indian Premier League side Mumbai Indians as well.

Meanwhile, Vaas comes from the golden generation of Sri Lanka of the 1990s and 2000s when the country had players such as Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan, Roshan Mahanama and Marvan Atapattu.

Vaas was a genuine match-winner with the ball, boasting 355 wickets in 111 Tests and 400 ODI scalps in 322 50-over matches but was often overshadowed by Muralitharan. He has prior coaching experience with the New Zealand and Sri Lankan teams as their bowling coach.

Greenidge, on the other hand, was an integral part of probably the most fearsome team in cricket history — the legendary West Indies side of 1970s and 1980s.

Greenidge amassed 7,558 Test runs in 108 matches, while he scored 5,134 runs in 128 ODIs.

“15 coaches have agreed to be drafted into PSL’s pool, which includes Vaas, Aurthur, Singh and Greenidge,” PSL Governing Council Chairman Najam Sethi confirmed to The Express Tribune. “We’re still in talks with other top coaches and cricketers so more name will be revealed in the next few days.”

Sethi added that the participation of foreign players and coaches will benefit domestic cricketers, who will not only share a dressing room with the best in the business but also bolster their finances in the process.

Meanwhile, Australia’s World Cup winning wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has also agreed to be part of the PSL draft.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2015.

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