PCB cricket committee to discuss split captaincy and coaching after World Cup debacle
A well-placed PCB source has revealed PTI that in the upcoming Cricket PCB Committee meeting, a decision on split captaincy and coaching role is on the cards. The team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals in England brought Sarfaraz Ahmed under the line of fire of the fans.
Although Pakistan sculpted a mini-comeback of sorts in the second half of the tournament, that was not enough to cover up the dispirited performance by the team in the beginning of it, which eventually cost them a place in the semi-finals. Sarfaraz Ahmed’s unimaginative captaincy came under the scanner and now the PCB cricket committee is mulling to have a split captaincy option for Tests and limited-overs format like England.
"Since Pakistan has to play eight Tests of the World Test Championship against Sri Lanka, Australia, Bangladesh and England before the T20 World Cup in Australia next year, the PCB is pretty concerned about how to improve the performance of the team in Tests," the source told PTI.
"Pakistan will be playing only three ODIs but nine to 10 T20s before the T20 Asia Cup and T20 World Cup next year, prompting PCB to consider separate captains and coaches for red and white-ball cricket," he said.
PCB Managing Director Wasim Khan, who was one of the leading lights of the ECB's drive to engage British Asians in English cricket, met another member of the cricket committee Wasim Akram in London earlier this month. The source revealed that the former Pakistan captain had advised the MD that the board should retain Sarfaraz and Mickey Arthur for the limited-overs cricket until the T20 World Cup.
"But the board is now considering the option of having separate captains and head coaches for Test and limited-overs cricket with the support staff i.e manager, bowling coach, batting coach, trainer, fielding coach, physiotherapist remaining the same for all formats."