Achi news desk-
LAHORE: South Africa’s Gary Kirsten and Australia’s Justice Langer are the two names being floated by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as the national cricket body continues its quest to fill the team’s head coach vacancy national.
Kirsten has coached for India while Langer coached Australia in the past.
The national cricket body is said to be keen to secure a long-term deal for the new coach, as the Men in Green have been without a designated head coach since the sacking of Grant Bradburn following last year’s disappointing ODI World Cup campaign.
Former all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez temporarily filled the gap, serving as team director and head coach during Pakistan’s tours of Australia and New Zealand. However, Hafeez resigned from the post last month, leaving the PCB scrambling to find a suitable replacement.
Initially, the PCB held talks with former Australian Shane Watson for the role of head coach. However, talks broke down, with PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi citing leaks to the media as a contributing factor in Watson’s decision not to accept the offer.
“We were also in discussions with Shane Watson, and one reason he didn’t accept the offer was because so many things had leaked in the media, and most of them were not correct,” Naqvi revealed.
As well as Kirsten and Langer, the PCB are said to be exploring options with Mike Hesson, Matthew Hayden, Eoin Morgan, and Phil Simmons. While former PCB chief Zaka Ashraf advocated for local coaches, Naqvi has expressed preference for a foreign coach.
However, the PCB faces challenges in convincing foreign applicants due to concerns arising from the treatment of previous coaches, both foreign and local.
“Due to the PCB’s bad history of appointing and dismissing coaches – foreign and local – in the past others are now very reluctant to accept any offer from the PCB,” a board official acknowledged.
