LAHORE: Criticising the Pakistan Cricket Board moves to remove Babar Azam and then Shaheen Shah Afridi as captain, former skipper Misbah-ul-Haq says the manner in which these decisions were taken disturbs the entire set-up of the team.

“[First] the way Babar was removed as captain was wrong, and now Shaheen was replaced [with Babar] in haste. Both are wrong ways which always disturb the players and the entire set-up of the team,” Misbah said while talking to reporters during a gathering in Lahore on Thursday.

“The change of captaincy always affects all the players of the team. Therefore, the PCB should be more careful in making such decisions,” Misbah, who also worked as national team head coach in the past, added.

Interestingly, Misbah was chairman of the Cricket Technical Committee (CTC) of the Zaka Ashraf-headed PCB Interim Management Comm­ittee when Babar resigned as captain of all three formats in November last year following Pakistan’s dismal performance in the Asia Cup and then the 50-over World Cup where the green-shirts failed to qualify for the semi-finals.

Sources say that Zaka did not consult Misbah, the CTC head, while taking major decisions like removing Babar and team director Mickey Arthur, as the PCB chief noting that Misbah was now engaged in cricket commentary.

The day Babar stepped down, Zaka appointed Shaheen as national T20 captain and former Test all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez as team director in haste, as a demanding Test tour to Australia was round the corner. Zaka also made opener Shan Masood Test skipper for the series Down Under where Pakistan suffered a 3-0 clean sweep.

However Mohsin Raza Naqvi, the recently-elected PCB chairman, brought Babar back after the Shaheen-led Pakistan lost a five-match T20 series 4-1 in New Zealand in January year — which removed all the reservations of Zaka about Babar’s role in Saya Corporation, an England-based players’ agent company.

Misbah further said that the PCB should also take the appointment of coaching staff seriously, emphasising “such decisions are of great importance and long-term coaches should be appointed after considering all the aspects”.

Foreign or local coach, Misbah reckoned, did not matter. “[Rather] the first and foremost thing is to select the best coach and that too for a long period,” he said.

According to Misbah, there should be a proper and clear process for judging the abilities of a coach.

“If he has skills and talent to take the team to progress, he should be hired.”

While saying that choosing the coaching team is not an easy job, he hoped that the PCB must have a think-tank to pick the best staff.

Though the PCB advertised for hiring coaching staff recently and the last date for interested candidates to submit the application is April 15, the names of former South African opener Gary Kristen (Test team coach) and ex-Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie (white-ball coach) had already been decided by the PCB, according to some media reports.

Shan, meanwhile, insisted that whoever leads the national team in any format the common goal for all players remains the same.

“There’s a new set-up that’s come in, a new selection committee, and you always have a plan,” opener Shan said while talking to Wisden Cricket Monthly.

“And they saw a certain plan and we saw through the explanation that they probably want Shaheen to be rested as well. Because we lost [pacer] Naseem Shah last year just before the [50-over] World Cup which proved very costly to Pakistan,” the left-handed opener added.

“I think for us as players we’ve got a common goal of making sure the Pakistan team does well. Whoever is leading it, everyone is behind them and ready to put in a good shift for them.”

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2024