Abdul Razzaq: “I feel that Misbah-ul-Haq has a good chance of taking charge of the Pakistan team again”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Abdul Razzaq, the former all-rounder, believes there is a “good chance” of ex-captain Misbah-ul-Haq becoming head coach of the Pakistan team again.
He noted that with all the leadership changes that have occurred in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), it is possible that current head coach Grant Bradburn could be on borrowed time.
While there has been no indication that Bradburn will lose his job or team director Mickey Arthur for that matter, it remains to be seen what the future holds for current PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf as political developments in the country could lead to him being dismissed.
Pakistan’s Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) ministry is understood to have sent a letter to the Prime Minister’s office to “ensure immediate termination of services of all heads of institutions appointed on political basis and to send all such cases to the commission for approval of termination or otherwise.”
While this took place in August 2023, it has once again led to speculation that there could be a change in leadership within the PCB.
It is the unstable situation that contributes to Razzaq’s gut feeling that Misbah will be back coaching the Pakistan team again. Misbah previously coached the men in green from 2019 to 2021.
“I feel that Misbah-ul-Haq has a good chance of taking charge of the Pakistan team again,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
The Pakistan team recently beat Sri Lanka 2-0 in a Test series before taking down Afghanistan 3-0 in an ODI series.
Most recently, they were involved in the Asia Cup, where they started on a high as they defeated Nepal by 238 runs before being forced to share one point apiece with India after their match was ruined by rain.
Having progressed to the Super Four stage, the men in green demolished Bangladesh by seven wickets before losing to India by 228 runs.
Despite this, they still had a chance to make it to the Asia Cup final, but were unable to triumph over Sri Lank as they lost by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan.
Travelling reserve: Tayyab Tahir
For God sake not again. We don’t want Tok Tok Misbah to become coach of Pak team. They need a coach who can be aggressive. The team is the slowest among teams. Other teams scoring 400 plus runs in ODI and Pakistan can’t exceed 250 plus.