 Speculation had been rife for some days that Waqar Younis could soon be
taking over as the coach of the Pakistan national team. In fact, the chief of
the PCB, Ejaz Butt had come out with a statement recently, saying that the board
had sent across the contract to the former pace bowler and was awaiting his response.
Younis has finally accepted the contract and will be taking over from Intikhab Alam as the coach of the Pakistani national side.
The contract for Waqar Younis will be till the end of December in 2011, though
it remains to be seen whether he will survive the same period. This is because
Waqar is actually the fourth coach that Pakistan has had in the last three years,
since the death of Bob Woolmer in the 2007 edition of the World Cup.
Waqar Younis is currently based out of Sydney in Australia and has been staying
in Australia for some time. He will come back to Pakistan for the coaching stint,
and will have Ijaz Ahmed as the batting and fielding consultant working with
him. Ijaz Ahmed had led a reasonably successful campaign for the Under-19 World
Cup in which Pakistan had not only beaten India but also reached the finals
of the tournament, where they lost to Australia.
Intikhab Alam, who has been replaced by Waqar will continue to be a part of
the set-up, as he will be the head of coaches in the National Academy in Pakistan.
However, there has been opposition from Javed Miandad over this appointment.
Miandad, himself a coach of the Pakistan side on three different occasions,
has said that Younis had been involved in match-fixing and hence is not the
right choice as the coach of the Pakistan national team.
What is surprising is the length of the contract that has been given to Waqar.
It is a well-known fact that the coaches of the Pakistan side haven't
lasted for most than a few months and to dole out a contract which is 21 months
long will be a difficult for the PCB themselves later. In the last three years,
Pakistan has had four coaches.
It was earlier believed that the former fast bowler had some issues with the
contract, but he has overcome the issues and will start the job from the next
month.
Mohsin Khan has also been appointed as the chief of national selectors.
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