LAHORE–May 9, 2014: The decision to appoint Waqar Younis as Head Coach was on merit, following a transparent, efficient and duly established procedure after scrutinizing all the candidates, said Intikhab Alam and Zaheer Abbas in a press conference here Friday afternoon.
The two former skippers and undisputed "greats" of the game, Intikhab Alam is presently PCB’s Director Domestic Cricket, and also member of the committee tasked to select coaches for the Pakistan team, while Zaheer Abbas is Principal Adviser to the Chairman PCB.
“The procedure is that we only interview candidates for managerial and administrative positions about whom we have no or little prior knowledge or information. But procedures relating to well known cricketers like Mohsin or Waqar are different. They are all very well known to us and PCB is well aware of their strengths and weaknesses”, said Zaheer Abbas. "That is why they are considered on the basis of their established suitability or otherwise for the job at hand and never 'interviewed' as such."
On Waqar Younis’ appointment, Zaheer said: “Waqar has regularly been associated with Pakistan cricket and has been commentating on the game as well. The PCB Committee unanimously felt that Waqar Younis was better suited to take the team forward than any of the other applicants who had applied for the job of Head Coach.”
Intikhab said: “We reviewed candidate applications as we received them and not only on the last day. Waqar emerged as the top contender early in the process and the Chairman was kept informed of his top standing throughout the exercise. Certainly, from the outset he was always preferred over Mohsin Khan."
According to the PCB, when Mohsin was made Head Coach and Waqar Bowling Coach some years ago, there were no ads placed for the job in the newspapers and there were no interviews. When Dav Whatmore was made Head Coach, ads were placed but he was selected without interviewing anyone else. When Wasim Akram was deputed by ex-PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf last February, ads were placed but no one was interviewed while the Wasim Akram Committee recommended both Waqar and Moin as potential choices. This is the third time that Mohsin has applied for the job of Head Coach and the third time he has not been selected.
Intikhab said, “We are responding to the statements made by Mohsin Khan because he is a former player and we respect him, not just as former cricketers but as Pakistanis. But it is strange that he has reacted in this manner on not being selected since he didn't behave in this way when he was omitted three times earlier".
