Jaffar quits PCB’s Karachi region post

KARACHI: Saleem Jaffar, the head coach of PCB’s Karachi region, has finally decided to resign. He has informed the PCB authorities in Lahore, ‘The News’ learnt on Friday.

He informed the PCB directors that he would quit at the end of this month.

Informed sources said that Habib Bank Limited (HBL) had offered the former Test cricketer to join them as head coach.

Jaffar confirmed to ‘The News’ that he had sent one-month notice to the PCB high-ups.

It may be noted that former Test cricketer Iqbal Qasim has also quit as director of PCB academy in Karachi at National Stadium.

Both officials chose not to reveal the reasons behind their decision to quit. They said that they were leaving the board without any acrimony and that they were moving ahead for greener pastures.

He said he took the decision after considering the matter for a few days. He said he felt that it would be a step forward in his coaching career as he would be taking charge of a balanced side in domestic cricket.

Jaffar played 14 Tests and 39 ODIs playing for Pakistan, taking 39 and 40 wickets, respectively.

He has vast experience in cricket coaching. He had a long association with PCB as a trainer of youngsters and as selector.

Jaffar said that he felt satisfied and proud as the academy was in full swing when he left his job as the head of PCB’s regional cricket academy.

He stated that a total of 80 players of Karachi’s two teams as well as those of Larkana and Hyderabad had been training in Karachi’s academy for six weeks.

A cricket tournament is being organised with four teams comprising 20 players each.

He said that all players were being facilitated in the academy’s hostel rooms and getting trained by PCB-appointed coaches.

He said that it was the third batch of young cricketers who were getting training here.

Jaffar further said that he would take the coaching responsibility at HBL as a challenge and establish his name as a recognised coach in domestic circuit.

He said he would soon start planning on how to train HBL according to the needs of domestic cricket.