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Mushtaq Mohammed likely to succeed Miandad as coach

With less than 8 days to go for the World Cup to kick-off, the Pakistan Cricket Board has sprung another surprise by indicating that a cricket coach for the Pakistan side will be announced within the next 24 hours.

Sources in the PCB indicate that former Test star Mushtaq Mohammed is the most likely candidate for the role. The post of coach had fallen vacant following the sudden resignation of Javed Miandad.

Miandad's exit officially owed to "family commitments", but backstage buzz talks of pay disputes with the board, and also the fact that Miandad's desire to play in the upcoming World Cup had led to disputes with captain Wasim Akram. Miandad reportedly added fuel to the fire by claiming that he was still better than some of the batsmen in the squad. He also accused some of the players of throwing the match against England in the Coca Cola Cup held last month in Sharjah.

The PCB chairman is reportedly handling the naming of Miandad's successor in person, without recourse to the executive council. The appointment of the England-born South African Richard Pybus as technical coach also followed a similar pattern, with the appointment being made first, and the approval of the executive council was taken later.

PCB president Khalid Mahmood said that the consent of the players would be taken before making the appointment. Senior players in the squad have reportedly asked for Mushtaq Mohammed's appointment.

Mohammed for his part pointed out that while he was due to work on the BBC commentary team for some World Cup matches, he has also been hired by the Bangladesh Cricket Board to work with the slow bowlers in the Bangladesh team, currently in England for the World Cup. He has pointed out to the board that besides being paid, he should be compensated for loss of revenue from these two assignments that he will now have to miss out on.

This will be his third stint as coach of the Pakistan team. Mushtaq, one of the famous Mohammed brothers, was first appointed coach in 1995 but was sacked in three months after Pakistan lost the home series 1-2 to Sri Lanka and were later beaten in the Sharjah tournament under the captaincy of Ramiz Raja.

But in '96, when Majid took over as chief executive, he convinced the council to reappoint Mushtaq as coach after the summer tour to England. This tenure of Mushtaq was more successful, with Pakistan winning the Carlton & United Series title in Australia and also doing well in Sri Lanka and India without their star players. But when Mushtaq demanded an increase in his monthly salary of Rs 45,000, Majid and the cricket council turned it down. Miffed, Mushtaq put in his papers.