Waqar Younis’s appointment as the PCB chairman’s advisor on cricket matters has been terminated in less than a month. In the new domestic contests the PCB is initiating this season, one of the five sides has recruited the former fast bowler and coach as a mentor.
Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Saqlain Mushtaq, and Sarfaraz Ahmed have joined Waqar as mentors. Their first task will be the Champions One Day Cup, which is scheduled to begin in Faisalabad on September 12.
Waqar was supposed to take over as the board’s cricket supremo, a position designed to relieve PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi of decision-making duties related to cricket. In that capacity, he even joined Naqvi at a news conference held at Gaddafi Stadium at the time, which was akin to an unveiling.
Waqar was hired through a “transparent and robust recruitment process,” according to the PCB, but they haven’t explained why he left that position to take on the role of mentor for a three-year contract. There have been suggestions that Waqar might be more appropriate for a team-building position like this one, where he would be more actively involved in the growth of a side.
The role of the advisor to the chairman is now vacant after the termination of Waqar’s contract and it is still being advertised for. Meanwhile, Pakistan suffered a rather embarrassing defeat at home against Bangladesh, their first in the last 24 years, since Bangladesh gained test status.
