Former Pakistan all-rounder Yasir Arafat is now the bowling coach of the UAE cricket team. (Photo by special arrangement)

NEW DELHI: Former Pakistan all-rounder Yasir Arafat is a journeyman of cricket. Be it in his playing days or now with the coaching hat on, he is still going to every nook and corner of the cricketing globe and doing the best he can.A month ago, Arafat was appointed as the bowling coach of the UAE national team for the 2026 T20 World Cup. The former Pakistan international has completed a Level 4 coaching programme with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and took up coaching full-time after retiring in 2016. He has served as Pakistan’s national team high-performance coach and was also a bowling consultant with the South African team last year during the Champions Trophy. He also has vast experience of coaching at Surrey, Sussex and Perth Scorchers.

The 43-year-old was a freelancer in T20 cricket a long time ago, before the word became glamorous.“Was I ahead of the T20s?” Arafat tells TimesofIndia.com with a chuckle. Arafat played all three formats for Pakistan and was a member of Younis Khan-led victorious 2009 T20 World Cup squad.“Actually, I played cricket consistently from a very young age, which allowed me to develop a wide range of skills early in my career. That foundation helped me to adapt smoothly into the T20 format as an all-rounder [bowling],” he says.Although for Pakistan, Arafat remained on the fringes and featured in only three Tests, 11 ODIs and 13 T20Is, the skiddy customer was a bulwark when it came to first-class cricket. Arafat played 207 first-class matches in a career that lasted two decades.

Yasir Arafat played 207 first-class matches in a career that lasted two decades. (Photo by special arrangement)

“After retiring in 2016, I immediately completed my qualifications starting from ECB Level III and started coaching at Eton College in London, which I am still doing. Alongside that, I began working with the Hong Kong cricket team as a bowling coach for several years. I also gained experience in white-ball coaching with Surrey, Sussex and Perth Scorchers. Later, I completed my ECB Level IV qualification and went on to work with both Pakistan’s and South Africa’s national cricket teams,” Arafat talks about his impressive CV.During his playing days, Arafat was making waves in the County Championship with his swing, but it was in T20s where he found fame. With 1,504 wickets across formats to his name, the UAE coach suggests that nowadays there is no ideal length to bowl in T20 cricket.“Look, T20 cricket is evolving every day and if you want to be successful in this format and sustain your career for a long time, you need to be highly skilful and develop a wide range of variations: bowling good yorkers with different variations such as wide yorkers, slower bouncers and all those kinds of skill sets.“There is no fixed length or formula for success in the T20 format, but the smarter you are with your skill set, the better your chances of thriving in this format,” he says.

Arafat also reasons why injuries are increasing among fast bowlers and how the modern calendar impacts recovery.“Injuries are inevitable in modern-day cricket because the game is much more demanding now. Fitness levels and fielding standards are extremely high. Fast-paced formats like T20 put extra strain on players. With cricket being played almost all year round, there is very little time for recovery and that is why many players these days choose specific formats to manage their workloads and stay away from long-term injuries,” he says.Arafat, who has seen the game evolve across eras, explains why bowlers are now picking formats and how the Indian Premier League (IPL) has reshaped cricket.

Yasir Arafat took 1,504 wickets across formats before becoming a coach for different teams. (Photo by special arrangement)

“Yes, I have played around 20 years of first-class cricket. Cricket has changed now. Earlier, Test and four-day cricket were played to define greatness. After the emergence of the IPL, the T20 format became more lucrative and because of this, fast bowlers in the current era are often labelled as format specialists. Red-ball specialists are chasing legacy and white-ball bowlers are focusing on franchise success and financial rewards. Ultimately, it is the player’s choice,” he says.UAE are placed in a group of death. Their group includes Afghanistan, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. But Arafat is happy with the talent pool he has seen and noticed in the past few weeks in the UAE setup.“We have got a talented group of players in both spin and fast bowling departments. As far as experience is concerned, many of them are still very new. The more they play, the better they will become. My only advice to them is to assess the conditions carefully, be clear about their plans and always keep an open mind to learn and improve,” he says.