Abdul Rahman — a coach par excellence in domestic cricket

KARACHI: KPK continues to produce top results in domestic cricket. The province has enormous talent. And it can be seen through the composition of their brigade for this year’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy which they won by conquering Northern by 169 runs in the final here at the National Stadium on Wednesday.

Barring Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi, who were not available for the final, players like Arshad Iqbal, Irfanullah Shah and stumper Mohammad Haris were sitting on the bench. There is no doubt about the quality resources KP has at their disposal but the man behind their winning streak is their head coach Abdul Rehman.

Under the guidance of Rahman, who has delivered as the head coach of Pakistan A on a few occasions, KP won their seventh major title on Wednesday. This was the second time that KP won QT crown under him. Besides, under Rahman KP have won three National T20 titles, one one-day cup crown and one Pakistan Cup title.

With a Master’s degree in International Relations, Rahman is a Level-IV coach who also played first-class cricket. He also featured in a two-day match against Australian Academy in 1995-96 after having appeared in a tour match against Sri Lanka A in 1989. He was among the probable players for Pakistan’s tour of England in 1996.

In a detailed interview with ‘The News’, Rahman said that cricket is his passion and he is sincere with his work. “If you work with sincerity God Almighty will reward you with success,” Rahman told ‘The News’.

“Since the start of my coaching career in 2010-2011, I have been using match-ups and data which is the requirement of modern cricket,” Rahman said.

“We select the team keeping in view the conditions, situations and strength of the opposition. I guide the boys about what shots they should play and what shots they should avoid in a certain condition. Similarly, keeping in view the weak and strong points of the opposition batsmen I advise the bowlers how to bowl,” Rahman said.

“Our selection is performance-based,” Rahman said.

He says that KP has super stuff. “There is no doubt about it. If you even look at our bench so we had Haris, Arshad Iqbal and Irfanullah Shah sitting on the bench. There is immense competition for finding a place in the team. And this shows that KP is extremely fertile,” Rahman said.

Asked whether he had any fear of losing the QT final when Northern were scoring runs rapidly during their chase, Rahman said, “Not at all. I had a firm belief that Northern could not win the game despite their terrific start. Runs came quickly in the first few overs as the ball was hard. I knew our spinners would prevail when the ball got softer and it happened as Sajid and Iftikhar did the job,” Rahman said.

“Northern had a few players like Haider Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Umar Amin and Mohammad Nawaz who could score quick runs but they also had their weak points,” Rahman said.

He lauded his wicket-keeper batsman Rehan Afridi who did a fine job both as batsman and as wicketkeeper. He said Rehan’s 79-run second innings was crucial. “He is a gutsy player and last season too he was the top stumper,” Rahman said.

He also appreciated Northern’s young batsman Mohammad Huraira and off-spinner Mubasir Khan, who emerged as the player of the event, and left-arm spinner Ali Usman of Southern Punjab. “They are Pakistan’s future,” Rahman said.

“Cricket is no doubt my passion and I love coaching any outfit but I am really enjoying coaching KP. The basic reason behind this is that I have been associated with this team since 2010-2011. I have groomed all the players, including Mohammad Rizwan and Iftikhar Ahmed. There is also no language barrier,” said Rahman, who was assistant coach of Peshawar Zalmi and Multan Sultans when they won the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

In 2017-2018, Pakistan A, under Rahman, defeated the top side of Australia in a side game in Dubai.

Rahman agreed that it was a negative approach to declare the first innings at a low total in order to deny the bowling side a bonus point. “I think it’s a negative approach. I think it’s against the spirit of the game,” he said.