Pakistan coaches Misbah-ul-Haq and Waqar Younis resign from their roles

Pakistan cricket has had to confront the shocking news of two coaches resigning from their roles. This news came a few hours after the squad of ICC world T 20 world was announced. Then Mishab-ul-Haq first stepped down from his role as Pakistan cricket head coach and moments after Waqar Younis also announced his resignation as a bowling coach of Pakistan.

Both coaches were signed up in 2019 and their contract was to end the next year. However, both stepped down 1 year before their contract was to end.  Meanwhile, the Pakistan cricket board announced that Saqlain Mushtaq, who is currently serving as the bowling coach at PCB’s National High-Performance Centre, and Abdul Razzaq will join the team management as interim coaches for the New Zealand series. This will allow the Pakistan cricket board enough time to either go with interim coaches or appoint permanent coaches on a contract basis. 

PCB will have to find the coaches at the earliest and there are many leagues coming up in the future. The players would need some time to adjust to the new coach. The appointment of the new coaches would provide better clarity to the Pakistani players. 

However, both the coaches did not directly blame any internal conflict within the cricket board members. Both of them specified the reason to step down from the post. Mishab claimed that he was drained of the continuous schedule of the matches as well as staying away from the family due to coronavirus. He missed his family and he wanted to spend time with family, which made me step down from the coaching responsibility. 

“The quarantine in Jamaica post the West Indies series provided me with an opportunity to reflect on the past 24 months as well as the schedule for international cricket ahead. Considering that I would have had to continue to spend considerable time away from my family and that too in a bio-secure environment, I have decided to step down from the role.

“I understand that the timing may not be ideal but I don’t think I am in the right frame of mind for the upcoming challenges and it makes sense for someone fresh to step in and take the side forward.

“The past 24 months have been thoroughly enjoyable and I want to thank my team and the management for their support. I wish the Pakistan cricket team best of luck in the upcoming events and will continue to support them every time they will take the field to represent Pakistan.”

Waqar, on the other hand, said, “After Misbah shared with me his decision and future plans, it was a straightforward one for me to resign as we had walked into the roles together, had worked collectively as a pair and now also step down together.

“Working with the Pakistan bowlers, including the youngsters, has been most satisfying as they have now started to show progress. Bio-secure environments in the past 16 months have had their impact, something we had never experienced during our playing days.

“The next eight months will be busy and exciting for the Pakistan team and, like in the past, I will continue to back and cheer them on. I want to thank each and every member of the Pakistan cricket team set-up as we stayed united in good and bad days, and hope there will be brighter days ahead.”

Wasim Khan, the PCB CEO, thanked the duo for their services and said, “The PCB understands and respects Misbah’s decision. Cricket in this unprecedented bio-secure world has not been easy for anyone and Misbah has clearly taken into account the intense six months of non-stop cricket ahead,” Wasim said.

“In the past 24 months, Misbah has given his very best to the team and we wish him well in his future endeavors. It has been an honorable decision by Waqar and we thank him sincerely for his immense work and commitment over the past two years and wish him the very best in the future.

“Both Misbah and Waqar have given so much to Pakistan cricket over a long period of time and for that, they deserve a huge amount of respect.