In two years, the PCB will experiment with a seventh coach

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has again advertised for a head coach after testing six coaches in key international contests during the past two years.

In addition, the PCB posted an advertisement this week for the position of director of high-performance centers.

The last interim head coach, Aaqib Javed, who served as selector and coach during the past six months, left the position following this year’s ICC Champions Trophy.

The Pakistani team has performed poorly at top-level international events in the past few years, including the 2023 Asia Cup, the 2023 ODI World Cup, and the 2024 T20 World Cup.

The last two years, the PCB was led by Najam Sethi, Zaka Ashraf, and (current) Mohsin Naqvi – all of whom tried to bring in like-minded coaches, selectors, and captains. That’s why the abrupt changes hurt Pakistan cricket the most.

It’s been two years since Abdul Rahman (interim head coach), Mohammad Hafeez (director national team), Azhar Mahmood (interim head coach), Jason Gillespie (Test head coach), Gary Kirsten (ODI head coach) and Aaqib (head coach of both white-ball and red-ball cricket) coached Pakistan teams. PCB is now seeking a seventh coach.

A competent foreign coach may be difficult to find this time around for board members.

Various foreign coaches have experienced complicated relationships with the PCB under different chairmen over the years. A couple of these include Geoff Lawson (2007-08) and Mickey Arthur (2016-19), both of whom were sacked in controversial ways.

Gillespie and Kirsten’s contentious resignations last year did not reflect well on PCB’s human resource management.

In addition, the PCB has made several changes in the captaincy of the national team since 2023.

As a result of Pakistan’s dismal performance at the 50-over ICC World Cup, Shaheen Shah Afridi (white-ball captain) and Shan Masood (Tests captain) have replaced Babar Azam.

PCB has undergone wholesale changes under the Mohsin regime since February 2024. After Shaheen was removed as captain, Babar was reinstated as white-ball captain in the first half of 2024. Later, Babar decided to step down due to the team’s poor performance in the T20 World Cup, and Mohammad Rizwan was given the reins of the white-ball team. While Shan had an ordinary show as captain and batter, he retained the Test captaincy.

After Pakistan’s performance in the Champions Trophy staged at home this year, Rizwan was replaced by Salman Ali Agha as T20 captain.

During this time, numerous changes were also made to the national selection committee. Most selectors were given new responsibilities instead of being held accountable for the team’s poor performance.

Despite Mohsin’s best efforts, he has been unable to improve the national team’s performance.

After being appointed chief selector by Zaka in 2023, former Test fast bowler Wahab Riaz took up different jobs.

Mohsin and Wahab play a crucial role on a headless selection committee with seven members. He has also been appointed the senior team manager of the national team, which exited last year’s T20 World Cup early.

Wahab, the director of mentors, remained in the picture after he was removed as selector and senior team manager. Wahab coaches Pakistani cricketers, including Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq, Misbah-ul-Haq, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and Shoaib Malik.

Former batting maestro Mohammad Yousuf, another key figure in Pakistan cricket, has also been offered different roles without success. In March 2024, he was included on the seven-person selection committee, along with his role as head coach of the national U-19 team.

The third role of batting coach will also be given to Yousuf next month. As head coach of the U-19 team, Yousuf stepped down as selector in September 2024.

As of Oct 11, three new selectors were included: Azhar Ali, Aaqib, and Aleem Dar. As a result of Azhar’s removal, the youth development department now has Azhar in charge.

The national white-ball team appointed Aaqib to be interim head coach on November 18 in place of Kristen.

On Dec 12, Aaqib replaced Gillespie as test team coach, but failed to lift the Pakistan team in any format. Sources said he was eyeing the director of high performance post, which became vacant after Nadeem Khan resigned.