Blame game continues between Waqar, PCB

Both parties continue to discredit each other since head coach’s leaked reports.

KARACHI: Pakistan cricket team head coach Waqar Younis questioned the Pakistan Cricket Board’s intentions on developing the sport in the country, claiming the board’s management only wants to secure their places and nothing else.

Waqar specifically targeted Executive Committee head Najam Sethi, stating that Sethi has no interest whatsoever in improving the situation of the team and is so uninterested that he doesn’t even pick up his calls.

“I’ll tell you that people in the PCB didn’t pick up my call for the last year or so,” Waqar was quoted as saying. “Let’s put it this way, Sethi has not picked up my call for last 18 months when I wanted to tell him the problems we were facing. If that’s the attitude with me after all my performances for the country then what can you expect.”



Waqar further added that cricketers should be brought in the PCB to run the affairs because they have a better understanding of the sport.

Sethi denies Waqar’s allegations

Sethi, meanwhile, stated that Waqar’s claims that he does not pick up the calls are baseless, adding that he was ‘saddened’ by the head coach’s ‘undignified behaviour’.

“When I was chairman, Waqar used to report to me. But since I exited, I wasn’t able to maintain the same communication,” said Sethi. “Waqar never even said hello to me since I exited but four days ago he came to me after attending the fact-finding committee meeting. He declined to give me a copy of the report he was submitting and even refused to brief me about it. The truth is he only wanted me to persuade Shaharyar to allow him to stay for four more months.”



Sethi further stated that Waqar is lashing out because the PCB chairman refused to guarantee him the post till the England Test series in July.

“While Waqar begged to remain as coach till the England Tests in July, Shaharyar informed him that he would do as the fact-finding committee would advise.

“I think it is because of this that Waqar is lashing out,” said Sethi. “I am really saddened by this undignified behaviour because he is a cricket hero for me. Unfortunately, his performance as a coach was not enough.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2016.

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