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LAHORE: Former head coach and ex-chief selector Mohsin Hasan Khan on Tuesday said he was not disappointed by the PCB’s decision of replacing him as head coach despite his excellent performance with the team and added that he is ready to accept any task from the Board in future if offered with sincerity and respect.
Mohsin, while talking to Dawn, said: “I am thankful to Allah that whatever job the PCB assigned me, I performed with total honesty and I am not disappointed with my removal as head coach.”
Asked if the PCB had offered him any other post or assignment after the England series, Mohsin replied in the negative but added that it was up to the cricket board to entrust him with some other task and he will once again discharge his duties with sincerity.
Mohsin, who originally served as chief selector in the previous PCB regime of Ijaz Butt, was later appointed as head coach following Waqar Younis’ resignation from his post after the Zimbabwe tour due to health reasons.
While his performance as the chief selector remained satisfactory, Mohsin excelled as head coach when Pakistan went on to beat Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and England in the Test matches as well in the limited over games.
However, Misbah-ul Haq and company lost the ODI and T20 series against England amid much criticism and the PCB finally brought in Dav Whatmore as head coach to streamline things in a more professional manner.
“One thing I would like to say is that I am very much disappointed with the results of the ODIs and T20 matches against England. It is beyond me how a team that whitewashed England in the Test series could slump the way they did in the limited over games,” said Mohsin while hinting at something ‘fishy’ that might have happened in the shorter-version games.
Though Mohsin dispelled the impression that any kind of groupings or conspiracy played any role in the team’s dismal show in the England ODIs or T20 games, he refused to offer any definite comment on the reasons that accounted for Pakistan’s defeats.
“The team was playing like a unit and there was total harmony among the players in the Test matches. But the result in the limited over games that followed stunned me,” he said.
To a question, Mohsin disclosed that after winning the series against Sri Lanka in the UAE, he had informed the PCB that he was not going to Bangladesh because he was appointed as interim coach for the Islanders.
“I met PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf in Dubai who praised my performance and asked me to continue for the Bangladesh tour. I asked him whether I will be working on series to series basis and his reply was, ‘No, first you come back from Bangladesh.’
“After the Bangladesh tour, the rumours about the appointment of Whatmore as new head coach began to take rounds which prompted me to ask the PCB once again about my future but they told me that nothing had been finalised and I should accompany the team as head coach for the tough England series,” recalled Mohsin.
Asked to comment on the chances of the Pakistan team in the upcoming Asia Cup, starting from March 11, the former opener said: “I feel the Asia Cup will not be an easy event for Pakistan, especially with Sri Lanka, India there. Even Bangladesh is not an easy team to beat on their home turf.
“However, I wish the Pakistan cricket team, the coaching staff and the selection committee all the very best.”
