Waqar Younis to coach Ruhuna in SLPL

Former Pakistan captain and coach Waqar Younis will be one of the coaches in the forthcoming Sri Lankan Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament, the organisers of Sri Lanka Premier League said.

The chairman of Somerset Entertainment Ventures Limited, who are sponsoring the league, said Waqar was on the coaches panel signed on for the high profile event to start on August 10.

"Waqar (Younis) is one of six appointments that have been finalised regarding the coaching positions, with only Kandurata province yet to finalise their. Waqar will be the head coach for the Ruhuna province team," the chairman of Somerset Entertainment Ventures, Sandeep Bhammer told a Pakistan based website.

"We have a couple of local appointments with Duleep Mendis coaching Basnahira and Naveed Nawaz will be head coach for Uva. To add to the international flavour of the tournament, Australian's Shane Duff will be the head coach for Nagenahira, Tom Moody will coach Utuhura and Trevor Bayliss has been appointed as head coach for Wayamba," he added.

Waqar coached Pakistan in 2010 and 2011 before he stepped down in September last year due to health and personal reasons.

A total of 56 foreign players have also been drafted by the Sri Lanka Cricke to appear in the league.

Pakistan's Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Malik, Imran Nazir, Ahmed Shahzad, Abdul Razzaq, Hammad Azam are among the foreign players taking part in the event.

West Indian cricketer Chris Gayle is the highest valued player at 100,000 USD with Afridi the second highest valued player at 50,000 USD.