Cricket
Pakistan to sack entire set of foreign coaches after World Cup debacle: Report | Cricket
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Amid reports of Pakistan captain Babar Azam’s captaincy future being in doubt, it has come to light that the Pakistan Cricket Board is set to sack its entire group of foreign support staff members. According to Samaa TV, a renowned Pakistani news channel, Pakistan head coach Grant Bradburn, team director Mickey Arthur, and batting coach Andrew Puttick are likely to be released after the team’s disappointing show in the World Cup 2023 in India. The report further added that PCB chief Zaka Ashraf is set to hold an emergency meeting with former captain Younis Khan on Tuesday and announce the decision.
The board is set to conduct a review of Pakistan’s poor show in the tournament where they failed to qualify for the semi-final after losing five out of their nine league games. Pakistan finished fifth in the points table with 8 points. Notably, this was the second ODI World Cup in a row where Pakistan failed to advance beyond the group stages. Even in the 2015 World Cup in Australia, their journey was stopped in the quarter-finals.
Pakistan, who were the No.1-ranked ODI team not too long ago, also failed to reach the finals of this year’s Asia Cup. The debacle in the two important multi-nation tournaments is believed to be the biggest reason for the sweeping changes that are set to take place in Pakistan cricket.
Morne Morkel might get replaced by Umar Gul
This development comes a day after Pakistan bowling coach Morne Morkel quit. Morkel, Arthur, Bradburn and Puttick came on board as Pakistan reshuffled their coaching staff earlier this year. Arthur mostly supported the team online as he did not want to leave his county contract but Morkel and others were always present with the team since June this year.
Arthur, who joined in April this year under Najam Sethi’s regime in PCB, was contracted to travel with the team only on important tournaments like the Asia Cup, World Cup and the upcoming Australia tour.
Morkel, a former South African quick, who is now an Australian citizen, had a six-month contract with PCB till the end of this year but he decided to quit a couple of months earlier and won’t travel with the team for the Australia tour later this year.
Head coach Bradburn and batting coach Puttick, however, have longer contracts till Mary 2025. With the T20 World Cup and the third cycle of WTC set to be covered during this period, it would be interesting to see if PCB keeps their faith in them. But the reports in Samaa TV suggest otherwise.
Former fast bowler Umar Gul is tipped to replace Morkel as he has worked before with the national team on an interim basis and has also coached the Afghanistan team.
Media reports further suggest that former Pakistan players Waqar Younis, Shahid Afridi, and Younis Khan are likely to big roles in taking the country’s cricket forward.
Babar, meanwhile, hasn’t made any announcement regarding his captaincy. It is, however, likely that he would remain the captain at least till the Australia tour.
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