The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) named former West Indies cricketer Phil Simmons as their new head coach. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) had previously terminated the contract of Lalchand Rajput after three months of appointment.

Simmons work will start from January 8 and he will be joining the Afghan squad in Sharjah for the ODI series against Zimbabwe and the contract will run till the World Cup in 2019.

"We went with Phil because he understand our team. He has coached West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland - all these are teams Afghanistan will play in the World Cup Qualifiers. He is a good prospect ," Shafiq Stanikzai, the ACB chief executive officer, said.

Simmons was the coaching consultant for the Afghanistan team last year. He will be facing the challenges of limited overs series against Zimbabwe, comprised of two T20Is and five ODIs between February 5 and 19. Then the Afghan team will move to the World Cup qualifiers in March. The team will then travel to India to play their inaugural Test, on dates yet to be finalized.