NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Wasim Raja to coach Pak

The brothers Raja have a corner on the Pakistan cricket market just now, seemingly.

Just weeks after former captain turned television commentator Ramiz Raja made it to the three-member selection panel, brother Wasim Raja, himself an ex-Test batsman with 57 Tests to his name, has been installed as the team's coach.

You wouldn't want to envy him, though -- Raja is in charge of a team that has three star players including captain Wasim Akram suspended pending the resolution of allegations ranging from betting and bribery to match-fixing. And he takes over during a period when Pakistan coaches have a very low shelf-life -- already, attrition has claimed first Javed Miandad, then Mushtaq Mohammad, this year.

The Pakistan board in a statement said the left-handed batsman had been given a long-term contract, without however defining 'long term' or releasing any other details of the contract.

With this, Pakistan ends a hunt for coach that has seen the board approach, variously, Bob Woolmer, Geoffrey Boycott and Ian Chappell.