LAHORE: Former captain and seasoned cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq has turned cold feet once again and has relinquished yet another responsibility assigned to him just 13 months back — this time the key post of chief selector.

Earlier this year, he handed his batting coach’s role to another legendary batsman Younis Khan prior to the last tour of England in July and said the chances are bright that the 10,000-run scorer will continue in the same role in future as well.

It was on Sept 4, 2019 that Misbah stood alongside PCB chief executive Wasim Khan at a press conference to gladly accept his three roles — as head coach, chief selector and batting coach — of the Pakistan team and said he will be accountable for the performances of the national team and his own.

But on Wednesday, Misbah again had a change of heart and said he is unable to give ample time to the job of chief selector, assigned to him by the PCB more than a year ago, and is stepping down from the post.

Ex-pacer Mohammad Akram likely to replace former captain

Addressing a press conference here, Misbah said in his opening remarks: “I am going to leave the post of chief selector mainly because in the next two years, heavy international commitments are coming up with 10 major assignments and I feel it will be hard to give time to both the jobs at hand [chief selector and head coach].

“Keeping that in view, I talked to the Board and offered to step down as chief selector and I am thankful that the PCB has allowed me to do so,” Misbah said. “When I had accepted the dual role one year ago, I had the option that in future if I feel it is hard to continue with the dual roles, I may leave one of them and now it is the right time to step down as chief selector to remain focused as head coach which is my main passion. So I am making this announcement in front of you and hopefully the next chief selector will make things better.

“Some rumours are in the air that my meetings with Imran Bhai (prime minister of Pakistan) or PCB chairman (requesting them to resume departmental cricket) has something to do with my decision, but if that was the case I would have quit as head coach as well,” argued Misbah.

“I am quite satisfied with my performance of the last one year, though some decisions paid off and some backfired, especially the selection against Sri Lanka for the home series did not click,” he admitted.

When asked that while Zimbabwe is about to arrive for their series here, the timing of his decision shows he is facing some pressure from the PCB to quit the post, Misbah denied that and said he would continue the dual job till Nov 30 and he would announce both the teams for the home series against Zimbabwe and the away one against New Zealand.

He also denied that PCB’s decision of appointing coaching staff of the six provincial teams for the ongoing domestic season without his consultation, compelled him to step down.

“It is not correct. All the new appointees are my colleagues and we enjoy good relations and recently we have held many meetings to pick the team against Zimbabwe and review the performances of the players in the ongoing National T20 Cup,” he said.

It may be mentioned here that the PCB, in 2019, though interviewed Misbah for the post of head coach, later decided to also entrust him with the role of chief selector with added powers to appoint other coaching staff as well and also have a say in appointing new captains, if necessary. It was on Misbah’s strong recommendations that Sarfaraz Ahmed was changed as captain to bring in Azhar Ali as Test and Babar Azam for ODI and T20 formats.

The decision by the PCB to assign dual role to Misbah was criticised by many, including former Test cricketers like off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf who have themselves now joined the National High Performance Centre of the PCB.

During this 13-month period under Misbah, Pakistan failed to raise a formidable side in any of the three formats as no major victory against high-ranked teams could be achieved.

Pakistan showed better performance in Test cricket at home against Sri Lanka (1-0) and Bangladesh (1-0), but lost the Test series against Australia in Australia (2-0) and to England in England recently (1-0). In the ODIs, only one home series of three matches against Sri Lanka was won by Pakistan 2-0. In T20, Pakistan lost to Australia (2-0), to Sri Lanka (3-0) and could only beat Bangladesh (2-0) before drawing the T20 series in England (1-1) earlier this year.

It may also be mentioned here that Misbah took the decision to step down on his own since the PCB could not analyse — as promised — his one-year performance because of a non-functional national cricket committee after its chairman Iqbal Qasim resigned last month after developing differences with the PCB.

To several questions about his decision, Misbah said when he took the challenge of many roles, the situation was different but now the requirements had changed and his first choice now is coaching as he feels he is excited about working with the players on the ground.

Misbah said as chief selector, he introduced young blood like Nasim Shah, Haider Ali and pacer Shaheen Afridi who is now a vastly improved bowler.

Misbah, who has been drawing a hefty salary of Rs three million plus, said he was getting that for his dual role and now it would be cut down. He added his job with SNGPL also did not matter as he has already sought NOC from the department.

Meanwhile, PCB CEO Wasim Khan, when asked if Misbah’s sudden decision to relinquish the dual jobs was not a failure of the experiment made for the first ever time in Pakistan cricket history and whether he was disappointed with the outcome, said: “It is neither a failure nor a disappointment.”

“When we made this offer to Misbah, the PCB had no viable option for the post of chief selector as we were looking ahead and forward. In addition to this, Misbah had just retired from domestic cricket and knew all the players at the back of his hand. Taking these factors into consideration, we offered him the additional role of the chief selector.

“But since last year, things have improved significantly. While our new domestic structure is finding its feet and the National High Performance Centre is operating in full swing, we now have four or five options who can take selection matters forward to allow Misbah to concentrate on coaching,” he said.

To a question, Wasim Khan said it would be the prerogative of the new chief selector whether he would go with the ongoing selection model, including head coaches of the six Cricket Association sides, or to revert to the traditional structure with a chairman with three members.

To a question on former fast bowler Mohammad Akram being tipped as the next chief selector, Wasim said it would be premature to say as the PCB was considering a few candidates for the job. He said Akram was currently performing his duties with Peshawar Zalmi, which has to play in the playoff of the PSL 2020 to be held on Nov 14, 15 and 17.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2020