After appointing Shaun Tait as the bowling coach, Afghanistan has allotted Avishka Gunawardene as the batting coach for the Pakistan ODIs. Gunawardene used to be an opening batter for Sri Lanka from 1998 to 2006, compiling 1708 runs in 61 ODIs at an average of 28.46. The former Sri Lankan batter also served as the batting coach of Sri Lanka earlier.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board(ACB) gave Gunawardene an offer to be the long-term coach for the Afghanistan outfit but he only agreed to coach during the Pakistan-Afghanistan Series in Sri Lanka. Right now, the Afghistani populace is grappling with the disruptions caused by the takeover of Taliban but the ACB insists the tour will go ahead as planned and the ODIs will be played during the first week of September.