Former Pakistan cricketers expressed their mixed reaction over the
resignation of Waqar Younis as head coach of the national team and felt
that health cannot be the only reason behind his sudden announcement.
 Waqa called it quits on Saturday citing health grounds for his inability to continue. © Getty Images |
Waqar, who took over as head coach from Intikhab Alam in March last
year, called it quits on Saturday citing health grounds for his
inability to continue.
"I don't know what happened but it is not a surprise to me because no
one has ever completed his tenure under Ijaz Butt (chairman of the
PCB)," said former Test captain, Aamir Sohail.
"I am in fact surprised that Waqar lasted for so long under Butt.
Because no one has got a chance to complete his tenure by the board
chairman since he took over in October 2008 and has either been sent
packing or been forced to go himself," added Sohail.
The former Test captain was referring to instances where Butt sacked
Australian coach, Geoff Lawson before his contract had completed and
also removed Intikhab Alam as coach last year and appointed him manager.
Butt also forced changes in the selection committee several times in
the last three years with Abdul Qadir and Iqbal Qasim resigning as chief
selectors in 2009 and 2010.
Interestingly, even Sohail resigned after differences with Butt while working as head of game development in the board.
During Butt's tenure, there has also been a merry go round of
captains with Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Salman Butt, Shahid
Afridi and Misbah-ul-Haq holding the captaincy reigns at different times
in the last three years.
Sohail said that perhaps Waqar wanted an extension of his contract
knowing Butt might go after completing his tenure in October this year.
"Whatever the reason, it is not good for Pakistan cricket," said Sohail.
The upcoming tour of Zimbabwe will be Waqar's last assignment with the national team.
Former Test pacer, Sarfaraz Nawaz demanded that Waqar owes an
explanation to the people of this country as to why he resigned
suddenly.
"He may be residing in Sydney with his family but he owes it to the Pakistani people to come clean," he said.
Former Test player Basit Ali noted that if Waqar had submitted his
resignation a week ago to the board chairman, then what took Ijaz Butt
so long to reach a decision.
"If it is due to health and personal reasons, then what took Butt so
long to make the resignation public," the player questioned.
"Clearly there is more to this issue," he added. Former Test captain
and wicketkeeper Moin Khan, however, hailed the development and said it
was good for Pakistan cricket.
"Since he took over as the head coach, there were issues in the
dressing room and lot of problems that led to Shahid Afridi's
resignation as well. I think the board should now take a decision on a
new coach after giving it much thought and that there should be no
hurry," said Moin.
"I think Javed Miandad is the best man to be a batting consultant in
the team and the board should look for a young coach," he advised.
Meanwhile, a well-informed source has suggested that Waqar wanted an extension to his contract that was due to expire in 2012.
"Waqar and Butt were not seeing eye to eye on many issues for the
last few months and after the West Indies tour, when Waqar was called to
Pakistan to meet the board chairman, Butt expressed his unhappiness
over the attitude of the coach within the team," the source said.
But another source said that Waqar had been facing pressure from his family, specially his wife, to quit the job.
"Waqar was not keeping well due to liver related health issues and
has been advised by specialists in Sydney to get full treatment to
prevent the liver problem from becoming terminal," another source said.
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