KARACHI: A committee that includes former Pakistan captains
Intikhab Alam and Zaheer Abbas, which was formed by the country’s
cricket chiefs to find a new coach for the national team, will meet for
the first time in Lahore on Thursday.The committee that also includes former Test wicketkeeper
Col (retd) Naushad Ali will meet at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)
headquarters in a bid to hammer out details of its future course of action.Intikhab Alam, who heads the committee, told Arab News on
Tuesday that in the initial meeting he and fellow committee members will decide
as to how to tackle the issue of finding the best available coach for Pakistan.“We will sit down on Thursday and decide our future course
of action,” said Intikhab, who was removed as Pakistan’s coach following the
calamitous tour of Australia in 2009-10. “We have to find the best possible
person for what is a very important job and will make all out efforts to
achieve that target,” he added.Intikhab, who served as Pakistan’s manager till this
summer’s tour of the Caribbean, made it clear that the committee, which will be
‘assisted’ by former Pakistan Test opener Ramiz Raja, is in no hurry and will
take its time before making its recommendations to the PCB.“We have not been given any time frame to find a new coach,”
said Intikhab.“We will be keeping our options open,” he remarked. “The
idea is to search for a suitable both at home and abroad and that’s what we are
going to do over the coming weeks,” he added.Intikhab said that the PCB would soon be posting
advertisements both at home and abroad in its search for a new coach.“I will only be able to give more details about this issue
after our meeting on Thursday,” he said.Late last month, the PCB decided to give the task to find a
new coach to the former stalwarts, just days after Waqar Younis announced that
he would step down as Pakistan coach after the ongoing tour of Zimbabwe. Just
before leaving for Zimbabwe last week, Waqar dropped a bombshell when he announced
his decision to quit as national coach because of ‘health reasons’A former Test fast bowler, Waqar took over as Pakistan’s
head coach in March 2010. Some believe he did a good job while others blame him
for the premature retirement of Shahid Afridi, the former Pakistan captain.
Afridi decided to quit after falling out with Waqar and later with PCB bosses
following the tour of West Indies early this summer.Though Intikhab made it clear that the committee is yet to
discuss the issue, it is believed that some of the coaches on PCB’s short-list
include former Sri Lanka coach Dave Whatmore, South Africa’s Mickey Arthur and
the home-grown Aaqib Javed, who served as Waqar’s assistant before being
detached from the team ahead of the tour of Zimbabwe.
