Umar Gul

Umar Gul (Urdu:, عمر گل) (born 15 October 1982 ) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who is the current bowling coach of Quetta Gladiators and interim bowling coach of the Pakistan national cricket team.

Gul was born on 15 October 1982 in Peshawar, Pakistan in a middle-class family and frequently played tape ball cricket.

He was encouraged by his friends to become an international cricketer as they saw his excellent bowling.

Gul was first called up for the team in April 2003, playing four one-day matches at the Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup against Zimbabwe, Kenya and Sri Lanka, where he took four wickets, and he was in and out of the one-day team after that tournament.

However, he played the whole of the 2003 home series against Bangladesh, making his Test debut and taking 15 wickets in the three Tests, and took the second-most wickets of any Pakistani bowler in the series, behind Shabbir Ahmed with 17.

However, Shoaib Akhtar, who took 13 in third place, only played two of the Tests.

Gul was retained for the ODIs against Bangladesh, taking a List A best five for 17 in nine overs in the third match, and ended with 11 wickets in the 5–0 series win.

However, he could still not command a regular spot, playing three of Pakistan's nine next ODIs before finally getting dropped after one for 36 against New Zealand.

He was recalled and played two Tests after that taking four wickets in a drawn Test against New Zealand before coming in as replacement for Shabbir Ahmed in the second Test of the three-Test series against India.

After coming on as first-change bowler, Gul dismissed Virender Sehwag in his second over, and then bowled unchanged for 12 overs either side of lunch to take five Indian top order wickets – including Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, who both had Test batting averages above 50, as did Sehwag.

Gul finished with five for 31 in his spell, earning him commendation from ESPNcricinfo journalist Dileep Premachandran, who praised his "control of line and length", and he was also named Man of the Match despite conceding runs at five an over in the second innings in a nine-wicket win.

After a length injury lay-off, which kept him out of international cricket for nearly two years, Gul returned to the Pakistan fold in 2006.

Firstly with quiet away series against Sri Lanka then followed by a tour to England in 2006.

Gul was quickly made the lead bowler in the side due to the injuries to other front line bowlers.

Gul to 18 wickets in four tests, justifying the selectors faith in him.

Later in 2006, against West Indies at home, Gul had perhaps his most successful test series.

He took 16 wickets in 3 tests, including notable spells of reverse swing bowling.

He was responsible for breaking Ramnaresh Sarwan's toe with a dipping yorker.

Gul had signed a one-year contract with Gloucestershire to play in 2007, but the Pakistan Cricket Board failed to give them their permission.

In February 2008, Gul signed with the Indian Premier League and was drafted by Shahrukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders franchise for US$150,000.

He played in six matches, taking 12 wickets at an average of 15.33, including a player of the match award in Kolkata's final game in which Gul took 4–23 and scored 24 runs from 11 balls.

In December 2008, Gul signed with the Western Warriors to compete in the Australian domestic 2008–09 KFC Twenty20 Big Bash tournament.

He performed very well in his debut match for the Warriors, taking 4 wickets for 15 runs in a losing side.

He was among the most successful bowlers in the competition.

Despite not being available for the entire tournament, he finished second top wicket-taker with 12 wickets.

Gul was a member of the Pakistan team that won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, being the highest wicket taker of the tournament, along with being the runner-up of the 2007 tournament, in which he was also the highest wicket taker.

He played all three formats of the game as a right arm fast medium bowler for the Pakistani cricket team.

Umar Gul was the second-highest wicket-taker in Twenty20 International cricket, with 74 dismissals, behind Saeed Ajmal.

In October 2010, Gul married to a Dubai-based doctor.

His daughter, Rehab Umar, was born in May 2012.

In the same month, Pakistan Army Commandos mistakenly raided Umar Gul's house in Peshawar and arrested his brother Meeraj Gul on the charge of hiding a wanted militant.

However, the commandos later on apologized to Meeraj.

Gul has 2 Two daughters and One son and just a few years ago,in 2012 welcomed their new daughter they named Rehab Umar.

His nephew is cricketer Abbas Afridi.

He won the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year 2013.

In July 2014, he played for the MCC side in the Bicentenary Celebration match at Lord's.

In April 2018, he was named in Baluchistan's squad for the 2018 Pakistan Cup.

In March 2019, he was named as the captain of Sindh's squad for the 2019 Pakistan Cup.

In September 2019, he was named in the Balochistan squad for the 2019–20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament.

On 16 October 2020, after the final group-stage match of the 2020–21 National T20 Cup, Gul retired from all forms of cricket following a career that spanned twenty years.