New coach to take over within ten days: Mohsin Naqvi

KARACHI: Pakistan’s cricket chief Mohsin Naqvi on Monday announced that the national team’s new head will be roped in within the next ten days.

With the T20 World Cup in the United States and Caribbean islands just a few months away, Mohsin admitted that it was a race against time for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to bring in the head coach and finalise the rest of the coaching staff.

It is understood that the PCB has been looking for a foreign coach after letting Mickey Arthur go in the wake of Pakistan’s World Cup failure last year, But Naqvi said that the Board will now bring in the “best possible” person, either foreign or local, to take charge of Pakistan’s misfiring team ahead of the assignment in the Americas.

“I assure you that we will appoint the head coach within the next one week or ten days,” Naqvi told reporters here at the National Bank Stadium on the sidelines of the HBL PSL final between Multan Sultans and Islamabad United.

Naqvi refrained from disclosing any details about the new appointment stressing that leaked and false information forced Australia’s Shane Watson to drop out of the race for the post of Pakistan coach. “Some false reports (about the appointment of the coach) caused a lot of harm to Pakistan cricket,” he said.

Naqvi said that Pakistan’s top cricketers will be attending a boot camp in the hills of Abbottabad from March 25 and he would want that they are accompanied by the new coach. The PCB chairman also spoke on a variety of other issues, stressing that Pakistan will leave no stone unturned in its bid to host next year’s ICC Champions Trophy despite all odds.

But he avoided talking about the elephant in the room -- India who have flatly refused to send their team to Pakistan in the past -- saying that PCB will knock at every door to ensure that the Champions Trophy is held successfully in Pakistan.

Last year Pakistan were forced to adopt a so-called hybrid model to host the Asia Cup after India refused to play here. Most of the games including the final were moved to Sri Lanka as a few relatively insignificant games were held in Pakistan.

There are fears that the Champions Trophy could suffer a similar fate but Naqvi said that he is not thinking about it. “We are just thinking about having the Champions Trophy in Pakistan,” he stressed effectively saying that PCB will cross the bridge when it comes to it.

Naqvi said he had a meeting with Jay Shah, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) kingpin in Dubai on the sidelines of an ICC moot last week but refrained from giving any details of the interaction.

He said that the PCB will carry out extensive development work at the three premier stadia of the country in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi in the lead up to the Champions Trophy. He also hinted at downsizing the PCB, which many fear is sinking under its own weight.

When asked about whether he would carry out major changes in the PCB, Naqvi said: “There are 900 people (working for the PCB) to manage 11 players.” Naqvi said that to make the PCB financially viable, he would need to carry out appropriate steps.