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The episodes are coming thick and fast as the tournament draws ever nearer and this time we speak with returning fast bowling coach Azhar Mahmood.

Azhar was with the franchise for the first two seasons of the tournament before switching to working with the Pakistan men’s team, but now he’s back and we caught up with him after he arrived at the team’s base at JA the Resort in Jebel Ali on the outskirts of Dubai.

Azhar is one of the very best in the business in his field of coaching fast bowlers and there are plenty for him to work with at the Vipers this season.

There’s captain Lockie Ferguson, death-overs master David Payne, all-rounder Sanjay Pahal who was the player of the tournament in the ILT20 Development Tournament in August and September, plus newcomers Matiullah Khan and Faridoon Dawoodzai, as well as Sam Curran and Naseem Shah, the Pakistan pace ace, amongst others.

Azhar knows all about Naseem having worked with him at national level and he explains why he thinks he will be so effective for the Vipers this season.

He also talks about Sam, a player he worked with extensively at English county Surrey, as well as two more Pakistan players he knows well Fakhar Zaman and Hassan Nawaz.

Azhar explains why he’s come back to the Vipers, how much he’s looking forward to working with Khuzaima bin Tanveer and what his philosophy is as a coach, especially in the fickle format of Twenty20.

And he also gives us his view on the Vipers’ chances for season four.

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