Rashid Latif to coach Afghan cricket team

Following a fall-out with the PCB, Latif has accepted an offer to become the head coach of the Afghan cricket team.

Pakistan's former captain Rashid Latif has stepped down as wicket-keeping coach in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as of Tuesday, and has accepted an offer to become the head coach of the Afghan cricket team.

According to Express 24/7, sources claimed that Latif was poised to accept the position of head coach with the Afghanistan cricket team to help them climb up the international cricket ladder. Earlier in the year, Latif had joined the Afghan team as batting coach, but then quit after two days, citing differences with the Afghan cricketing board.

This sudden turn of events followed after the  issuance of a show-cause notice against the former wicket keeper for discussing the raging  cricket spot-fixing and betting scandal on a television show. The board had asked Latif to also explain his comments that the PCB mishandled the whole issue.

During the broadcast, Latif had criticised PCB chairman Ijaz Butt, stating that the responsible thing to have done was to have suspended the tainted trio - Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir - without waiting for the dictates of the ICC.

Latif also criticised the formation of the inquiry committee after the Australian tour and the people selected to sit on it.

The saga of 'Mr Clean'

According to a cricinfo report, Rashid Latif earned more fame for his controversial acts than for his cricketing deeds. He announced his retirement in the middle of Pakistan's 1994-95 tour of Zimbabwe, following some fishy goings-on in South Africa under Salim Malik's captaincy, then returned as "Mr Clean" to captain the side after he had given plenty of evidence to Judge Qayyum's inquiry.

According to this report, Latif made a surprise return to the colours for the 2001 tour of England, and got a second shot at the captaincy when Waqar Younis was sacked after Pakistan's miserable performance at the 2003 World Cup. There was more controversy to follow, though. He kept up his crusade to clean up the game, writing an open letter to the ICC, warning of the dangers of "fancy fixing".

Then, he was suspended for five matches for wrongly claiming a catch during the series against Bangladesh. These incidents led to the souring of relations between him and the Pakistan board, and ultimately resulted in his stepping down from captaincy at the end of that series.

Latif's resignation as captain in 1994 is clouded in mystery as unconfirmed reports suggest that the player was involved in match-fixing, which lead to him stepping down as captain. Officials state that Latif retired to protest suspected match-fixing by his teammates.

He recently said that Pakistani cricketers are not the only ones involved in match-fixing.