The World Cup has been done and dusted. The once in a four-year tournament brought about a carnival of cricket, which was played with utmost dedication and commitment from the participating teams. The best thing about the tournament was its round-robin format. All teams almost played against each other (excluding the rain-affected matches) leaving no room for criticising that a particular team did well but could not face the best team in the tournament due to a partition in groups. They were some close matches like New Zealand vs West Indies or England vs Sri Lanka, but the cake went to the final at Lords between England and New Zealand. Who could have thought that at the grandest stage of them all, a World Cup final could be tied!
The controversy did mare the result of the final, but it was declared and now accepted that England is the world champion in ODI cricket for the next four years.
Pakistan’s performance at the World Cup was disappointing. Finishing at fifth on the round-robin table, the men in green left the cricketing fans wanting at least a semi-final spot. An expert opinion would believe that had Pakistan put up a respectable high score in their opening match against the West Indies, their run rate could have improved making them nudge a place in the semi-final. Apart from that the washout against Sri Lanka also gave the team some bad luck as far as points are concerned. Nonetheless, life does go on. This time around, there was a bit of calm amongst the higher-ups at the PCB following Pakistan’s World Cup exit. Unlike the aftermath of previous editions where heads would roll, fingers were pointed and all-out chaos would break out, the PCB decided to follow their newly appointed set-up of the cricket committee to dissect the shortcomings from the World Cup and put up its recommendations. A rumour circulated that not too many changes would be made regarding the positions of coach and other members of the support staff. However, it was concluded in the recommendations from the cricket committee sent to Chairman Ehsan Mani that they had lost confidence in the head coach and support staff. So within days, Mickey Arthur and co left the country; leaving behind mixed feelings of accomplishments and disappointments, which they attained over three years.
The PCB should be congratulated on choosing a former local player instead of the tried, tested and failed experiences, which were given to foreign coaches
So now, the hunt for head coach and other support staff members was on. Many names were being circulated with the likes of Dean Jones and Andy Flower to name a few. However, towards the end of the race, it was clear that the great Mishbah-ul-Haq would relish the role of head coach as he stepped down from the cricket committee giving the hint that he would be appointed. The PCB should be congratulated on choosing a former local player instead of the tried, tested and failed experiences, which were given to foreign coaches. I would say Misbah here is the ideal choice for the role of head coach. A very important factor for him being so is because he has played and captained with the majority of the current crop of Pakistani players. He would know their strengths and weaknesses quite well.
What caught me by surprise (and maybe others too) would be Misbah’s dual appointment as Chief Selector as well. The biggest challenge which Misbah could face for this role could be time. As a chief selector and other members of the selection committee, it is important to physically be present at domestic matches and act as a scout for identifying prospects. Will Misbah be doing such an activity? It seems unlikely if he is the head coach of the team, which means he will be with the team most of the time. The decision to give Misbah the role of Chief Selector remains a bit unclear and unjustified as well. It would have been better to give Misbah just the role of head coach so that he could create a world-class team and let the selection matters be headed by someone else. This someone else could have been former Pakistan wicket-keeper Rashid Latif who has a sound understanding of players playing in the domestic circuit. The PCB dared and only time will tell if a dual appointment for a single individual was the right choice. However, the appointment of roles for Misbah does not end here. There was no appointment for batting coach in the new support staff and guess who will be taking care of the position. However, this should not be a problem for Misbah as the head coach and batting coach does have the proximity of managing the team in terms of technique.
Pakistan’s assignments for the next 6-8 months focus on the World Test Championship which began with the Ashes in August this year. In November the team will tour Australia for two tests followed by tests against Sri Lanka in the UAE followed by a test series against England during the summer of 2020. Currently, the much-thanked Sri Lankan cricket team (for bringing cricket back to Pakistan after 10 years) is visiting Pakistan for an ODI and T20 series. However, the challenge for Misbah and co will begin with the tour of Australia. With everything set in place in terms of selecting the head coach and chief selector and also the start of a revamp domestic tournament, it seems that all is going pretty well at the moment for the PCB.
The writer is based in Karachi