Mohammad Kabir Khan ( ps, محمد کبير خان; born 12 April 1974) is a Pakistani

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

coach and former player. He represented the

Pakistan national cricket team The Pakistan national cricket team or Pak cricket team, often referred to as the Shaheens (), Green Shirts, Men in Green and Cornered Tigers is administered by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The team is a Full Member of the International C ...

from 1994 to 2000 as a left-arm

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

, playing four

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

and ten

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

(ODI) matches. Khan was appointed head coach of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in 2008. He resigned in 2010 and briefly coached the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, before returning to Afghanistan for a further stint from 2011 to 2014. He was appointed head coach of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

in 2021.

Early life

Kabir Khan was born in

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in 1979. He is an ethnic

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

Playing career

A seam bowler with considerable pace, Khan first played on the

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n tour of 1994–95, and made sporadic one-day appearances for the next six years. However, he never established a long-term role in the side, having only participated in ten

, finding it tough to break into a Pakistan side sporting both

Wasim Akram Wasim Akram HI (; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, coach, and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Akram is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, and several criti ...

and

Waqar Younis Waqar Younis Maitla HI ( Punjabi, ur, ; born 16 November 1971) is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who captained Pakistan national cricket team. A right-arm fast bowler, Waqar Younis is regarded as one of the grea ...

. This was despite a respectable

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of just over 25. Khan ended up playing 4 Test matches and 10

s for Pakistan. He still plays league

cricket in the United Kingdom Cricket is a popular sport which is played across the British Isles, particularly in England, where the game was first developed. Like many sports, cricket is organised separately within the individual Home Nations, which all compete separately a ...

, currently for Stirling County Cricket Club in Scotland as the club's professional.

Coaching career

After retiring from

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

last in 2005, Kabir became the coach of the

Habib Bank Limited cricket team The Habib Bank Limited cricket team was a first-class cricket side, sponsored by the Habib Bank Limited, who competed as a departmental team in Pakistan domestic cricket from 1975–76 season. Before disbandment, the bank was providing an ann ...

side and after gaining experience there, he coached the

United Arab Emirates national cricket team The United Arab Emirates national cricket team ( ar, فريق الإمارات الوطني للكريكيت) is the team that represents the United Arab Emirates in international cricket. They are governed by the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) w ...

. Khan is a highly qualified ECB Level 3 coach. Khan was the coach of

Afghanistan national cricket team The Afghanistan men's national team ( ps, د افغانستان کرکټ ملي لوب‌‌‌‌‌‌ډله, fa, تیم ملی کریکت افغانستان) represents Afghanistan in international cricket. Cricket has been played in Afgha ...

and guided them from the

2008 ICC World Cricket League Division Five The 2008 ICC World Cricket League Division Five is a cricket tournament that took place between 23 and 31 May 2008 in Jersey. It formed part of the ICC World Cricket League and qualification for the 2011 World Cup tournament. Afghanistan won t ...

, through

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

and

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the fo ...

status during the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier. Shortly after Afghanistan achieved ODI status, Khan dropped

Hasti Gul Hasti Gul Abid (born 1 January 1984) is an Afghan cricketer. Gul is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm medium pace and plays for the Afghanistan national cricket team. Born in Nangarhar Province, Gul spent much of his early years in ...

for their first first-class match in the

ICC Intercontinental Cup The ICC Intercontinental Cup was a first-class cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as part of its cricket development programme. It was designed to allow Associate Members of the ICC the chance to play first ...

match against Zimbabwe XI. This led Gul's brother

Karim Sadiq Karim Khan Sadiq ( ps, كريم خان صادق; born 28 February 1984) is an Afghan cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman who occasionally fields as a wicket-keeper for the Afghan national team. He can also bowl off break, taking 4/27 agains ...

to quit the national setup, citing what he called "injustices" and "wrong policies", accusing national coach Kabir Khan of not acting in the best interest of the team. Sadiq later returned to play for Afghanistan. He guided Afghanistan to victory in the

2010 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier was played from 9–13 February 2010 in the United Arab Emirates and a part of ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier series. The top two teams progressed to play in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, the international champ ...

, which allowed them to historically qualify for the

2010 ICC World Twenty20 The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was the third ICC World Twenty20 competition, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies between 30 April and 16 May 2010. It was won by England, who defeated Australia in the fina ...

; during the tournament Afghanistan lost both of their matches to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. On 19 August 2010, Khan quit as the Afghanistan coach, citing interference from officials in the Afghanistan Cricket Board during their tour to Scotland; Khan left Afghanistan top of the Intercontinental Cup and ranked 13th in the world in one-day cricket. In October 2010, Khan was appointed head coach of the

on a three-year contract. However, he left the UAE to return for a further stint as coach of Afghanistan in December 2011. He oversaw the team's qualification for the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 and the

2015 Cricket World Cup The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by Aust ...

, resigning in September 2014 for personal reasons. Khan was appointed head coach of

in 2021. He coached the team to victory at the 2023 ACC Men's Challenger Cup in Thailand.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Kabir 1974 births Living people Cricketers from Peshawar Pakistan One Day International cricketers Pakistan Test cricketers Peshawar cricketers Habib Bank Limited cricketers Pashtun people Pakistani cricket coaches Pakistani cricketers House Building Finance Corporation cricketers Coaches of the United Arab Emirates national cricket team Coaches of the Afghanistan national cricket team Pakistani people of Afghan descent Pakistani expatriates in Afghanistan Edwardes College alumni Pakistani expatriates in Saudi Arabia