Afghanistan are set to play their opening game in Champions Trophy against South Africa
Former Pakistan batter and legend Younis Khan has been appointed mentor of Afghanistan for Champions Trophy 2025, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) announced. Younis, who retired as a player in 2017, had previously taken up a coaching role back in 2022 during a brief stint where he mentored Pakistan’s batting unit.
The ACB said Younis will stay with the team until the end of the tournament and will join their training camp in Karachi.
“Since the Champions Trophy is being held in Pakistan, it was required to assign a talented and experienced player as mentor from the hosting country. We already had efficient experience with hosting countries’ mentors in ODI World Cup 2023 and T20I World Cup 2024,” ACB chief executive Naseeb Khan said in a statement.
Younis’ appointment is similar to ACB hiring former cricketers previously. They had called for the services of Dwayne Bravo as a bowling consultant for the 2024 T20 World Cup which proved to be a masterstroke as they reached the semifinals of the tournament for the first time ever.
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In the build up to the tournament, Afghanistan have been in excellent form after winning all three-format series against Zimbabwe which followed a 2-1 ODI series win over Bangladesh.
Afghanistan are in group B in the Champions Trophy alongside Australia, England and South Africa. They open their campaign against South Africa in a Day-Night game in Karachi.
Afghanistan are yet to announce their 15-player squad for the tournament. Hashmatullah Shahidi is most likely to captain the side after back-to-back series victories. So far, England are the only team to have named a squad for the Champions Trophy
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