“I decided to move on and try something different”
Image courtesy of: The National
Aaqib Javed has stepped down as head coach of the United Arab Emirates as he is considering becoming the director of cricket operations for Lahore Qalandars, a Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise.
Javed, a former Pakistan pace bowler, signed a three-year contract with the United Arab Emirates in 2012 and subsequently replaced Kabir Khan.
During his tenure, the United Arab Emirates gained ODI and Twenty20 International status and also featured in the first round of the 2014 World T20. Furthermore, the team qualified for the 2015 World Cup.
“I have decided to resign from the UAE job and go back to Pakistan,” Javed told ESPNcricinfo. “I think I have done great with the team and now I don’t see anything left for me to do. They have the ODI status, played cricket at the highest level against big teams, and now it’s just a repetition and I don’t want to do it again. In an Associate country like UAE, you do at a certain level and when you achieve every goal, then you start losing interest and there is no motivation left. So I decided to move on and try something different.”
Lahore Qalandars executive Atif Rana confirmed that the franchise had contacted Javed, but made it clear that his role will be clarified later this week.
“The deal hasn’t been done yet,” Rana told ESPNcricinfo. “We have been in touch with Aaqib for long and on Saturday we will be putting up his case in our board and will take a final call. It is partly true that we are interested to rope him in but there are a lot of discussions left before we formally announce.”
While Javed enjoyed his time with the United Arab Emirates, he believes it is time for him to move on. However, he did say that he would be interested in coaching a Test-playing nation should the opportunity arise.
“I am looking ahead to bigger goals now as I have done everything – being at no. 2 in the command, and recently coaching UAE – so why not go beyond that,” he said. “Something that kept me motivated when I joined UAE was that I knew I had to work hard to gather a broken team and get them to stand on their feet, so that was a new experience and I loved doing that.
“So now I don’t want to take up the old job and do the same things again. I am thinking beyond that and if I am offered [the role], I will definitely consider being a head coach of a full Test-playing nation.”