Misbah-ul-Haq has been appointed as the head coach of the Pakistan men’s cricket team and also the chief selector of Pakistan Cricket Board. Along with him, Waqar Younis has also been appointed the bowling coach of the team.
Misbah in a dual role
According to a PCB media release, Misbah was the unanimous choice of the five-member PCB panel that conducted the recruitment process. Interestingly this will be the first stint of Misbah as a coach who featured in 75 Test matches and 162 ODIs for Pakistan scoring over 10300 international runs before retiring in May 2017. Waqar was the Pakistan head coach twice before: between 2010 and 2011, and 2014 and 2016. He has also enough experience of coaching franchise clubs across the globe, including Bangladesh Premier League’s Sylhet Sixers and Pakistan Super League’s Islamabad United.
Misbah before the appointment resigned from the selection committee and applied for the position of the head coach. On the new role, he said, “I know expectations are high, but I am absolutely ready and up for the task otherwise I would not have thrown my name in the hat for one of the most challenging and coveted roles in Pakistan cricket,”
The partnership
According to the PCB release that Waqar’s name was finalized based on the recommendation of Misbah and both will work on a three-year contract. Both previously worked together from May 2014 to April 2016 when Misbah was the captain and Waqar was the head coach of Pakistan.
The first assignment of Misbah-Waqar combination will be the upcoming three ODI and three T20I home series against Sri Lanka, scheduled to be held from September 27 to October 9. After Pakistan’s exit from the recently concluded World Cup the selectors decided to not renew the contract of previous coaching staffs. On the partnership set to begin in a month’s time, Misbah said, “Both Waqar and I had a candid and frank discussion and we discussed and agreed on a number of things, including roles and responsibilities as well as how to take things forward.”
