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LAHORE: In what is seen as yet another surprising move on the Pakistan Cricket Board’s part, chief selector Mohsin Hasan Khan has been asked to temporarily relinquish his current post and take up the head coach’s job with the Pakistan team in place of Waqar Younis, though only for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka which commences in the UAE from Oct 18. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday announced the team management for the back-to-back series against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
When contacted, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt clarified that Mohsin would only act as head coach and not as chief selector during the series against Sri Lanka, and as per the previous practice, will be a member of the touring selection committee which also includes manager and the captain.
“Obviously, after the series against Sri Lanka, Mohsin will return as chief selector and during this period, any suitable person will be appointed as acting chief selector in his place,” Butt told Dawn.
The PCB chief added that hopefully, by the end of the Sri Lanka series, Pakistan will have acquired the services of a well-qualified foreign coach since the PCB is already in negotiations with some leading candidates for the post.
“Only a top coach with strong credentials and a will to stay in Pakistan to coach our youth will be preferred for the post,” said Butt.
“A number of foreign coaches have this tendency to directly join the national team abroad on tours and then go back to their country instead of spending some time in Pakistan and impart training to our youngsters,” he said.
“We don’t want that to happen again.”
Meanwhile, Col. Naushad Ali who is a member of the ‘coach committee’ along with former captains Intikhab Alam and Zaheer Abbas, has been named as associate manager to Naveed Akram Cheema. However, Naveed who was appointed manager on the recent tour of Zimbabwe, will join the team in the last phase of the series against Sri Lanka after performing Hajj.
“As Naveed Cheema will be performing Hajj this year, he will assume the manager’s charge at the start of the Pak-SL ODI series on Nov 11. He will continue as manager for the Pakistan’s tour of Bangladesh as well.
“In the absence of Naveed Cheema, Col Naushad will be the Pakistan team manager for the three-Test series against Sri Lanka,” a PCB press statement said.
“Mohsin Hasan Khan will be the coach for the Pakistan-Sri Lanka series only. The PCB is in the process of appointing a full-time coach for the national team. The rest of the team management will remain the same for both the series,” it concluded.
Ijaz Ahmed was also retained as assistant coach. A short training camp for the tour will be held in Lahore from Nov 10-13.
Team management: Manager: Naveed Akram Cheema. Associate manager: Col. (r) Naushad Ali. Coach: Mohsin Hasan Khan. Security manager: Col. Wasim Ahmed Assistant coach: Ijaz Ahmed. Trainer: Saboor Ahmed. Physio: Faisal Hayat. Cricket analyst: Talha Butt.
