Waqar Younis
steps down as Pakistan coach
Waqar Younis has
resigned as Pakistan's coach three months before his contract was going to end,
and only one day after Shahid Afridi relinquished his
T20 captaincy.
Waqar took the decision after meeting PCB officials in Lahore.
Waqar took the decision after meeting PCB officials in Lahore.
The two resignations came after Pakistan's
disappointing performances in the Asia Cup in Bangladesh and the World T20 in
India. Pakistan won only three games out of the eight they played across the
two tournaments and failed to make it beyond the first round. The last series
Pakistan won in any format was last October, when they beat England 2-0 in a
three-Test series in the UAE. After that, Pakistan lost the ODI and T20 series
to England, and then traveled to New Zealand to again lose the T20 and ODI
series. They won only two of the 12 limited-overs matches they played in all
against England and New Zealand. Pakistan are currently ranked a respectable
fourth in Tests, but eighth in ODIs and seventh in T20Is in the ICC rankings.
"It's time to go," Waqar said. "With
disappointment and pain I would like to inform that I decide to resign as the
Pakistan coach. In last 19 months of my job I was completely honest and didn't
leave any stone unturned to help the team achieve the best but unfortunately we
couldn't get the results.
"It was slightly unfair by the board the way
the whole case had been handled as my report was leaked and none of the board
officials tried to talk about all this. But in all this, I do not want all of
you, including ex-cricketers, to forget my services to Pakistan cricket."
Waqar had recently presented a scathing
report, after Pakistan's exit from the World T20, in which he
criticised the PCB's decision of not giving him a say in the selection process
and lambasted Afridi's style of captaincy. The report was an overview of his
two-year term as coach and was submitted to the PCB chairman Shahryar Khan and
to the board's fact-finding committee. The PCB later announced on Monday, among several
other measures, that a panel comprising Wasim Akram and Ramiz Raja
would assist the board in finding a new coach.
A day before submitting that report,
Waqar had offered
to step down but had said cosmetic changes would be
insufficient to solve the deeper issues in Pakistan cricket.
"I am stepping aside with with a heavy heart,
and what can I say, the present circumstances aren't good in PCB," Waqar
said on Monday. "They were looking to make me a scapegoat so it was
important for me that I should go with respect."
It was Waqar's second tenure as coach after he was
appointed in May 2014 for a two-year contract that was due to end on June 30
before the tour of England. By stepping down at this juncture, Waqar will forgo
three months' salary; he advised the board to invest that money in domestic
cricket.
"I am being portrayed as the villain," he
said. "Whatever I said in past five days wasn't a lie. I want Pakistan
cricket in good shape and hence gave recommendations which are already out in
public. I hope my suggestions will help the upcoming coach if they are rightly
understood for the betterment of Pakistan cricket.
"I had three months remaining in my contract
and some Rs 50-60 lakh with PCB but I told them to invest them in domestic
cricket where it is actually needed. Players there at the first-class level are
being underprepared. Until you don't invest at the right place you will not get
the right players to the top level. If money isn't invested then I am afraid
after next five-six years someone else will be standing here and cursing PCB
and the system."
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