U19 Defeat Against India: Taimoor lashes out at coach, PCB

ISLAMABAD: One of the successful Level IV coaches, Taimoor Azam Khan has questioned Pakistan Under-19 team’s preparations and selection criteria, saying that worst defeat against India in the semi-final was more due to lack of priorities by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for grassroots development.

Taking to ‘The News’, Taimoor said it was unjust and unprofessional on the part of policy-makers to appoint Ijaz Ahmad as team head coach weeks ahead of the World Cup at the expense of Azam Khan who knew these juniors well.

“In fact preparations for the Under-19 World Cup have been messed up by the PCB. Ijaz has come from nowhere to take over as coach and the one that was already with the team was sidelined. Preparations of the team had not been up to the mark.

“The newly appointed coach has failed miserably when it came to preparing players for bouncy South African wickets. Majority of the Pakistan batsmen did not know how to handle short pitched deliveries and in the process kept on losing their wickets against India. Lack of pressure match practice was also one of the reasons of big defeat against India.”

Taimoor maintained that coaching had always been a professional job. “If you think every former Test player can take up coaching job at any time, you are highly mistaken. It is a professional job and only those can handle the team at crunch times who know the art of coaching.”

He was also unhappy with the team’s preparations, saying that the LCCA Ground in Lahore had never been rated as a track suitable for pace bowlers.

“When you are preparing team for the World Cup in South Africa, you must look for the track that has pace and bounce in it. LCCA Ground wicket has been one of the docile tracks in the country. I wonder who has selected that track for camp.”

Taimoor, who is one of the few highly qualified coaches the country has, said he was amazed at playing XI selection.

“Huraira was never in the playing XI during pool matches. Left-arm spinner Arish Ali Khan was not played at all. Arish is a good prospect and a better all-rounder. He captained under-16 team and is highest achiever at domestic level. Some others were out rightly supported by the head coach without any real justification. Coach should have kept in mind that he was carrying 16 players and not 11.”

Taimoor said that PCB had never valued junior engagements in recent times. “If we want good results at junior level internationally, we have to give value to the grassroots cricket instead of boosting fun cricket. Sadly, for PCB fun cricket is more important.”