Former Pakistan fast bowler Waqar Younis is now the leading candidate to become Pakistan’s cricket coach, a decision supported by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also highly praised for the former cricketer.
Apart from his illustrious career as a cricketer, Waqar also has a long history as a coach – the former pace bowler was first appointed as Pakistan’s bowling coach in 2006.
Since then, he has served as Pakistan’s bowling coach four times and as head coach twice. The 52-year-old has also coached in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and IPL.
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Given his vast experience in all fields as a player and coach, the PCB chairman considered appointing him to the director role.
The current atmosphere in Pakistan’s training camp is not the best and with a heavy defeat at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 adding to the confusion, the Pakistan Football Association is looking for major shake-ups.
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Naqvi’s thoughts on Waqar’s appointment as Director of Cricket
Highly placed sources in the PCB revealed to PTI that Naqvi had heard from other country’s cricket boards that it would be a wise decision to leave all decisions relating to men’s cricket to former players and cricketing legends.
Waqar’s experience and understanding of the game makes him the perfect person to take over the role of Director.
Waqar Younis is the front-runner to be entrusted with full responsibility of overseeing men’s cricket, including liaising with the two foreign head coaches, the national selectors and the domestic cricket department, sources said.
Sources further said that Naqvi is looking to decentralise all cricket-related powers rather than centralise them and wants other former players to be involved in some issues. Issues relating to international match schedules will also be further handled by the director.
Naqvi’s focus is now on the ICC Champions Trophy, which Pakistan is scheduled to host in February 2025. However, India’s participation in the tournament remains a mystery as the BCCI has not given its nod to the team to tour Pakistan amid tense political relations between the two neighbours.
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