Pakistan legend turns down coaching job
CRICKET: LAHORE, Pakistan, April 16 (AFP) - Pakistan confirmed
Tuesday that former captain Javed Miandad had turned down an offer to
become the side's batting coach.
The team has been let down by faltering fielding and under-achieving
batsmen and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt and one-day
captain Shahid Afridi had asked Miandad to come on board, manager
Intikhab Alam said.
"The Pakistan team surely needs a batting coach and the board
approached Miandad but he unfortunately declined the offer because of
personal reasons. But I am sure that he will come and help the players
in the near future," Alam told reporters during team's training camp for
the West Indies tour. But Miandad indicated he had rejected the offer
because he was unwilling to work alongside other coaches.
"When you have four, five separate coaches, then the blame game
starts in case the team loses a series or a tournament," Miandad told
reporters.
"For the last three years I have been saying 'give me the team with
full responsibility', but it was not done," he added.
Pakistan fly out to the Caribbean early Thursday to play one Twenty20
international, five one-day matches and two Tests.
Miandad's Test batting average never dropped below 50 throughout his
20-year career. His 8,832 Test runs at 52.57 remain a record, with
espncricinfo.com describing him as "the greatest batsman Pakistan has
ever produced".
The right-hander, now a PCB director, had initially hinted that he
was willing to help out the squad, but also said he was unwilling to
tour. He has had three separate stints as coach since 1998, the last of
which was in 2004.
Alam said he was nevertheless happy with the team's preparations for
the West Indies."I can say this with great satisfaction - that this team
maintained exemplary discipline during the World Cup, and I am also
happy with the fitness level of the team because, unlike the other
teams, we didn't have any serious injury problems during the
mega-event," said Alam.
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