Veteran pacer Umar Gul named his five-pacer fast bowling attack for the upcoming edition of the ODI World Cup, to be held in India later this year. Umar Gul urged voters to support Pakistan's fast bowling division at the main event.

Umar Gul, who served as Pakistan's interim bowling coach for recent series in Afghanistan and New Zealand, has revealed his five potential pacemakers for the upcoming 2023 ICC World Cup in India.

Umar Gul was the bowling coach for the national cricket team in the recent series against Afghanistan and New Zealand. Previously, the former right-arm pacemaker served as bowling coach for the Afghan team at the 2022 ICC Men's T20 Cricket World Cup in Australia.

In an exclusive interview, Umar Gul explained that the Men in Green had a balanced bowling attack with pacers and spinners.

“If you talk about our bowling, the tempo attack we had during the New Zealand series should be maintained and these are our best bowlers for the World Cup. They are Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Ihsanullah and Mohammad Wasim Jr,” Gul said.

Discussing the inclusion of lanky pacemaker Ihsanullah, the former cricketer explained that it might be too early for the young bowler as he has mainly played home and T20 cricket but the ODI format poses a different challenge.

"It's still early for him. He [Ihsanullah] left the home team and moved to T20 cricket where he has shown his skills. Despite having previous experience of domestic cricket, including one-day and four-day matches, playing a different format like ODI requires a different approach. While he has shown his skill in the T20 tournaments with his fast pace and aggressive bowling, we need to watch his performance in the upcoming ODI series and the World Championship to gauge how well he can adapt and prepare the challenges ahead,” he said.

"If you are talking about Spin Attack and you know the mega event is in India then you need the help of your spinners, you have top all-rounders like Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan and I think we have an excellent and." balanced bowling side.

"We have great expectations from the bowlers and if we go there and participate in the World Cup, the results can be positive and we have a lot of chances to win the tournament," he added.

Gul went on to mention that the first-choice speed attack for the mega-event would consist of the deadly trio of Shaheen, Naseem, and Rauf. However, he stressed the importance of having capable options on the bench, which include Ihsanullah and Wasim Jr.

“First choice will be the trio attack of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf for the mega event, but looking at the bench you have to have the availability of Ihsanullah and Waseem Jr. Ihsanullah in my opinion.” and Wasim should have chances at the Asian Cup,” he said.

“Ahead of the World Cup we need to try Ihsanullah in the few games we get to know if he is ready to play the 50-over format because there will be competitive cricket at international level and I know he will has the potential to serve Pakistan in the future,” he concluded.