Zafar Gohar: Gloucestershire spinner hopes team make the most of talent
- Published
Zafar Gohar was Gloucestershire's leading wicket-taker last season with 60 in all competitions
Gloucestershire bowler Zafar Gohar says he hopes the club reach their "real potential" next season, after signing a two-year deal to stay until 2024.
The Pakistan left-arm spinner was Gloucestershire's leading wicket-taker last year, with 60 in all competitions.
However the club were relegated to Division Two at the end of this summer's campaign.
"If you look around the team we've got one of the best talents in English cricket," Gohar told BBC Radio Bristol.
"Hopefully we'll work and perform [to] our real potential next season and we will get some results."
Gohar has played for Gloucestershire in short-term spells since 2021 and has been one of the team's brightest performers.
He took 47 wickets in the County Championship last season - to put him in the top eight of the division - including nine during the side's end-of-season win over Yorkshire.
"The last two years I've been loving living and playing with Gloucestershire," Gohar said.
"It's my ambition, it's in my mind to bring my team back into Division One."
The 27-year-old said he had few reservations about staying with Gloucestershire despite dropping down a division for 2023.
"Bristol feels like home, honestly, when I'm away from Bristol I miss a lot, I love living there. We have a lot of friends now, it feels like family," he said.
"The first few years I was quite nervous, there was a cultural difference and it was my biggest overseas contract, [but] the way the boys welcomed me the last year and the year before was amazing."'
'Hard work pays off'
Gohar, whose one Test cap for Pakistan came in 2021, has been playing for Central Punjab in Pakistan this winter, although said he has been in regular contact with head coach Dale Benkenstein as he prepares for the new season.
Gloucestershire kick-off their County Championship campaign against Glamorgan on 6 April.
"I believe I can do a bit more with the bat and the ball, and in the field as well, so I just keep working," Gohar added.
"I know what I need to work on and I'm just trying it. Hopefully I will work a bit more on my fitness as well so hopefully once these things get better the performance will go up."
While bowling has been Gohar's priority, he scored 493 runs last season and said improving his all-round skills has been a priority.
"In modern-day cricket you've got to be an all-rounder, you've got to do all these three aspects of the game - batting, fielding and bowling," he continued.
"That's where I'm always trying to work hard, trying to adopt what modern-day cricket demands."