LAHORE: Former Test all-rounder Mudassar Nazar on Saturday strongly criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board for what he claimed ignoring merit in the appointments of new panel of coaches, particularly of the six provincial cricket associations.

Mudassar, who featured in 76 Tests and 122 ODIs between 1976 and 1989, expressed his regret over the recent appointments of 36 coaches with different teams of the provincial associations, saying merit had been ruined in these appointments and reckoned that preference had been given to those who were closer to the current PCB set-up.

“A number of [appointed] coaches have no coaching degree, which should be a must for a coach to train any team. I was expecting good changes. Hopefully, these things will not be repeated in future,” said Mudassar in an interview to Dawn.

Mudassar, who quit as head of the National Cricket Academy, which is now named as the National High Performance Centre (NHPC), expressed his surprise over ignoring Ijaz Ahmed Junior for a coaching position in any provincial team while noting that under his coaching Central Punjab won the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, the country’s most prestigious domestic competition, last year.

Similarly, Mudassar agreed that Sajjad Akbar, whose South Punjab side claimed the Second XI trophy last year, was retained at the same position. Whereas, Mudassar argued, Sajjad deserved to be appointed as coach of any team for the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy.

“Sajjad is a brilliant coach who likes to keep the record of everything and he talks in writing,” Mudassar stated.

“But now the PCB has adopted the stance that players’ feedback was also considered in removing some old coaches like Ijaz Ahmed Junior and others. What type of approach is this? This is mind boggling! [A number of] players have always complained against competent coaches. If Pakistan lose the Test series in England and [as a result] the players make any complaint against [head coach] Misbah, would you axe Misbah?” he asked.

Mudassar slammed the PCB also for not making the six provincial associations functional in line with its constitution despite the passage of two years, and not staging any club or inter-city competition during the same period.

“Now they are going to select the provincial teams based on the players’ performances of the last two years, making the mockery of affairs,” he denounced.

Mudassar, whose contract was to expire on May 30, 2020, had surprisingly informed the PCB in December 2019 that he would not be the candidate for the said post in future.

“Actually the purpose for which I had joined the NCA could not be fulfilled due to the lacklustre attitude of [former PCB chairman] Najam Sethi and that of the incumbent body [headed by Ehsan Mani],” he lamented.

“When Shaharyar M. Khan as PCB chairman brought me from the ICC Academy I agreed to join [NCA] because the chairman had assured me that he will give me funds to set up academies in four different cities,” Mudassar said.

“But after Shaharyar left, Sethi [next chairman] was reluctant to invest money on these projects. And then after noticing that the current PCB management is also not ready to go for the said project I decided to quit.”

But when reminded that the current PCB management had announced it would set up NHPC at four centres, Mudassar said he did not have any information on this.

“I don’t know from where now the money has come as they had refused to go with my plans,” he recalled.

“But I will tell you this [PCB] management will not succeed in setting up such centres in any city and what they are claiming is all pack of lies.

Mudassar continued, “I believe unless we invest in this area we will not be able to beat strong teams like Australia and England consistently.”

When asked the PCB hired Nadeem Khan in his place as the head of NHPC, despite a big difference in the credentials of both, (Mudassar came from the ICC Academy and Nadeem running Moin Khan Academy in Karachi), Mudassar reckoned commercialisation might have been the reason.

“I think the PCB preferred Nadeem because it wants to run the NHPC on commercial basis, the way Nadeem has been running [Moin Khan Academy] in Karachi, but I did not agree to this,” he said.

“In fact, our academies lacked the facilities to perform on commercial basis. We could not even set up a gymnasium at the Karachi HPC even after four years,” he regretted.

Commenting on the ongoing third Test in Southampton, Mudassar said Pakistan, trailing 1-0 in the series, now faced a massive task ahead.

“The wicket [in Southampton] was straight on the first day and remained so till rain on the second day. However, after rain [on Saturday] it has become difficult for batsmen as the Pakistan bowlers started troubling the English batsmen. If the wicket continues to behave like this in the coming days [of the Test] Stuart Broad, James Anderson and other fast bowlers will not allow the Pakistan batsmen to settle,” Mudassar said.

Mudassar said now the Pakistan batsmen faced a huge pressure in the ongoing Test to take first-innings lead or minimise the England lead to remain in contention.

“In cricket one cannot rule out anything. Though the challenge is massive, still with renewed fighting spirit our team can come back in this Test,” the 64-year-old underlined.

Responding to a question on the stinging criticism Azhar Ali is currently facing as captain, Mudassar said the former’s dismal batting form had intensified this criticism.

“Criticising captain and coaches in case of a defeat has been a tradition in Pakistan cricket. However, it is also a fact that Azhar’s poor batting performance is adding fuel to this criticism,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2020