The much-awaited Pakistan Super League (PSL) is in the final stage and on Tuesday night the first winner of the PSL will be decided.

The two most expensive teams of the PSL — Karachi Kings and Lahore Qalandars — secured two bottom positions while the most surprising performers were Quetta Gladiators. Before starting the league, Quetta were not considered to qualify for the last four. But their performance as a team surprised everyone. Quetta remained on top spot with Shahid Afridi’s Peshawar Zalmi with 12 points apiece.

Apart from players’ individual performances, it was the guidance and training of Quetta Gladiators’ mentor Sir Vivian Richards that helped them.

Richards’ successful counseling paid off immediately as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to appoint him as mentor for the Pakistan national team till the next month’s mega event - the Twenty20 World Cup in India.

Richards had earlier expressed his desire to work with the Pakistan team, but willing to work for a short-term period due to his commitments as a television expert.

Pakistan cricket team already has the head coach Waqar Younis, batting coach Grant Flower and bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed.

Expressing his views for his expected appointment, Richards said in an interview, "Waqar Younis at present is doing a great job with the Pakistan team, but if given an opportunity to take up a coaching assignment with Pakistan cricket, I would definitely give it a shot as I believe I have a lot to offer to the game."

Richards, one of the greatest batsmen of history, played 187 One-day Internationals for the West Indies and scored 6,721 runs at an average of 47 with a strike-rate of 90.20 including 11 centuries and 45 fifties.

Pakistani all-rounder Azhar Mahmood could also be appoint as bowling coach replacing Mushtaq Ahmed. In presence of head coach Waqar Younis – a great fast bowler of his time – appointing a new bowling coach is a surprised decision by the PCB.

The appointment of Sir Vivian Richards will be a good move for Pakistan cricket as he was a great batsman of his era and has vast experience of international cricket. Under his training Pakistani batsmen can improve their skills and becomes a strong batting unit.

But the most important things is can Pakistani batsmen overcome their mistakes and weaknesses in a very limited time as the WT20 is just a few weeks away. Appointment of a skillful coach should be for a longer period as most of Pakistan’s defeats occur because of the failures of the batsmen. Our batsmen are not fully fit and their stamina is not up to the international standards.

Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal, Sharjeel Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Azhar Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khurram Manzoor etc are all talented players, but due to lack of proper guidance they are inconsistent and are prone to throwing away their wickets in crunch situations.

Pakistan’s batsmen score 20, 30 runs easily but when they are set and can play big innings throw their wickets with rash shots.

A good coach can guide them to play sensibly and according to the situation. A good cricket coach is one who is good at team management and team strategy. He should know the weaknesses of his own players and the opponent teams apart from having multiple contingency plans.

Richards can motivate players to give optimum performances consistently. He should be a good thinker of the game and should be able to communicate effectively what he wants from the boys on the field. He should be able to handle the pressures of this high-profile job.

After their humiliating first-round exit from the 2007 World Cup, India appointed former South Africa Test opener Gary Kirsten as chief coach. Within a short span of four years, India became so strong that they won the World Cup in 2011.

The PCB must give priority to the batting side and provide opportunities to young talented players from the domestic circuit and also initiate a talent-hunt scheme to overcome the batting woes under an experienced batting coach who can remove batsmen’s weaknesses.