Former South African cricketer Lance Klusener was named as the new head coach of the Afghanistan team on Friday. Lance Klusener, who was appointed as the assistant batting coach of the national team for the three-match Twenty20 series against India, replaced former West Indies cricketer Phil Simmons as the coach of the underdog side. Lance Klusener, considered one of the best all-rounders of his generation, has collected 1906 runs and 80 wickets in Tests, as well as 3576 runs and 192 wickets in ODIs. He took up coaching with domestic side Hollywoodbets Dolphins from 2012-2016 before being appointed as batting coach for the Zimbabwe national team. In July this year, he was appointed as the head coach of the Glasgow Giants for the canceled inaugural edition of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament.

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Afghanistan get a new head coach

After a disappointing World Cup campaign, the Afghanistan side looked to rebuild their side and therefore handed over the captaincy of the side to youngster Rashid Khan. Former skipper Gulabdin Naib came under severe pressure after they lost an easy game against Pakistan in their last match of the World Cup following which rumours of an alleged rift between Rashid Khan and Naib emerged. However, both the players cleared the air of all rumours and expressed their support to one another in order to make the team better. Lance Klusener expressed his excitement to work with the young side and said that he was confident in making Afghanistan one of the best teams in the world. Lance Klusener was chosen out of more than 50 applicants who had applied for the position of head coach. Lance Klusener will assume charge in the month of November as Afghanistan will face West Indies.

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Afghanistan take just three matches to register two victories

As new entrants to the longer format of the game, Afghanistan first stunned the world by pulling off a win against Ireland in their maiden Test contest. The underdog side picked up their second victory after defeating Bangladesh bya huge margin. With this win, Afghanistan registered a rare feat by winning two matches from just three Test games played while India, New Zealand and Bangladesh took as many as more than 30 games to register two victories. Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra took to the micro-blogging social media website to put out the stats and inform fans about Afghanistan's achievement. The former Indian cricketer lauded the efforts of the team and wished them luck for the future.

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