Former India batsman Lalchand Rajput has been appointed head coach of the senior UAE men's team. The 62-year-old takes over from Mudassar Nazar, who had performed the role on an interim basis after succeeding another India international, Robin Singh. Rajput has prior experience coaching at the international level, having famously overseen India's victory in the inaugural T20 World Cup of 2007. Rajput since went on to have stints with Afghanistan, helping them achieve Test status in 2017. He most recently worked as the head coach of Zimbabwe between 2018 and 2022.
"UAE has emerged as one of the stronger Associate Members in recent years and the players have put in some good performances in both ODIs and T20Is," Rajput was quoted as saying in an Emirates Cricket Board release. "The current batch is exceptionally talented and I look forward to working with them and further harnessing their cricket skills. "Commenting on the appointment, ECB's general secretary Mubashir Usmani said: "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 Programme where he will continue to identify and groom our future stars."
