Dubai (United Arab Emirates): Former India cricketer and cricket manager Lalchand Rajput has been appointed the head coach of UAE men’s national team for a three-year period.
A media statement issued by the Emirates Cricket Board stated, "Rajput officially takes charge of the team this week, his first assignment will be the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 ODI tri-series being hosted in UAE with Scotland and Canada as the other participants."
The tri series starts on Wednesday February 28. The UAE then will host Scotland for three bilateral T20s in March. Rajput represented India in six international matches in 1985.
After his retirement, he took up coaching and progressed to become one of the most accomplished domestic coaches in India. Thereafter, he coached India’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup winning team in 2007.
Rajput has also coached the Afghanistan team in 2016-17. During his tenure, Afghanistan were awarded Test status by the International Cricket Council. His next stint was with Zimbabwe’s men’s team – from 2018 to 2022. Rajput helped Zimbabwe qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup (Australia 2022).
“I want to thank the Emirates Cricket Board for appointing me for this exciting role. UAE has emerged to be one of the stronger Associate Members in recent years and the players have put in some good performances in both ODIs and T20Is. The current batch is exceptionally talented and I look forward to working with them and further harnessing their cricket skills," Rajput said.
He also said that he is confident that the boys buoyed by their exposure to top quality cricket and practice facilities here in Dubai will continue to prosper. "UAE cricket has a very bright future and my goal would be to make the team perform more consistently and take them to the next level which I am very confident they are fully capable of," added Rajput, who played for Mumbai.
General Secretary, Emirates Cricket Board, Mubashshir Usmani said Rajput has a proven track record and has done an exceptional job as a coach for various national and domestic teams around the world.
“We are confident that under his coaching, UAE men’s cricket will flourish further. I also want to take this opportunity to thank Mudassar Nazar for his stellar work as the interim head coach. Mudassar will now return to his role as Head of the National Academy Program where he will continue to identify and groom our future stars," added Usmani.
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