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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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Coming up we speak with Vipers Director of Cricket Tom Moody as players and staff start to assemble at the JA Resort in Jebel Ali ahead of the tournament.

Tom was in great form when we chatted, covering off a range of topics and it really is a chat that – as ever with Tom – is well worth your time.

There’s his take on the process of planning for the auction that happened at the start of October and, on top of that, we hear from him on the prospect of facing up to players that the franchise let go ahead of this season.

Tom also talks to us about the retention of Lockie Ferguson as captain and Sam Curran’s return to the England white-ball set-up off the back of his player of the tournament performance last season.

Tom reflects, too, on the prospect of facing up to the side that beat the Vipers in last year’s final, the Dubai Capitals, in this season’s opener and discusses the decision to break from the build-up of previous years by not having a warm-up match this time.

He also gives us his perspective on what it will take for the Vipers to go from runners-up to winners in this edition of the DP World ILT20.

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This time we speak with English batter Dan Lawrence, one of the seven players retained by the Vipers for season four of the tournament, as we get ever closer to the first ball of the next edition.

Dan was one of the squad’s earliest overseas arrivals into the UAE as he opted to play in the Abu Dhabi T10 beforehand, and he took a break from the action at the Zayed Cricket Stadium to reflect on what’s gone and look ahead at what’s to come.

Dan was one of the stand-out performers for the Vipers in season three, someone who, alongside the likes of Sam Curran and Max Holden, made the Vipers top and middle-order one that the other teams had plenty of respect for.

In our chat Dan talks about that previous campaign and reflects on why the side couldn’t quite get across the line in that epic final against the Dubai Capitals.

He also tells us about what he did during the English summer that followed, including a maiden T20 hundred for his county side Surrey, the experience of playing with a different side from the one he’d previously lined up for in The Hundred, and the frustration of finishing as runners-up with Surrey in the first-class competition, the County Championship.

Dan talks batting, bowling – with his off-spin becoming more and more of a weapon, especially in first-class cricket – the fact he was retained by the franchise, and what he thinks it will take to turn the Vipers from nearly men to winners in this season’s competition.

And he also looks back on his famous 'Flamingo shot', the flick shot he played against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders that deposited the ball over square leg for six.

https://www.thedesertvipers.com
https://twitter.com/TheDesertVipers
https://www.instagram.com/thedesertvipers/
https://www.batforachance.org.uk/
https://theplasticpledge.com/
https://tickets.virginmegastore.me/ae/group/venue/50/desert-vipers?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAab9fx_-_nYuzYvHADezZlIcCDI_Q1-MgUVPSzZh33ngq5Qp5aBuOZSl_ic_aem_IooLlA6jU_qbtCFRjyV67Q