File photo of Mohammad Hafeez
The sports ministry has asked the Pakistan Cricket Board not to offer a long-term contract to its incumbent director of cricket Mohammad Hafeez yet, who came into the role after the 50-overs World Cup last year. The PCB had sent a copy of the contract for approval to the ministry of inter-provincial coordination, which oversees the sports sector. “The contract was for a long term period but the board was told to just continue with the short-term arrangement with Hafeez which ends after the T20 series in New Zealand,” a reliable source said.
According to insiders, Hafeez as well as the other new coaching staff members came on board only after the assurance of getting long-term contracts.
“Now it appears (that) this is not going to happen, and as it is, the performance of the team has also been very bad under Hafeez and the other coaches, as they have lost all Tests in Australia and now the T20I series in New Zealand,” an insider said.
Hafeez was named the director of the Pakistan team along with new coaches Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal and foreigners Simon Helmot and Adam Hollioake for the Australian tour.
Another former Pakistan player, Yasir Arafat replaced Helmot as the high performance coach for the T20Is in New Zealand.
The new coaches came in after the PCB reassigned the foreign coaches Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn and Andrew Puttick to the National Cricket Academy after the World Cup.
All three refused to take up the new assignment and went on vacations. They have now resigned after an undisclosed financial deal with the PCB.
Recently, the sports ministry also stopped the board’s cricket management committee from holding a T10 league and as well as a meeting to form the new board of governors. PTI COR DDV
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