Former Pakistan cricketer Aaqib Javed has expressed his concerns about coaching standards and the state of affairs in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). In an exclusive interview with Cricket Pakistan, Aqib highlighted the lack of professionalism in the process of hiring coaches by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
“It’s not about jealousy, it’s about mindset. If you look at the last 10-12 years, the PCB has not hired any professional coach apart from Mickey Arthur. All over the world, when there is an advertisement for coaching, the first requirement is usually a Level 3 plus qualification, followed by 4-5 years of international experience,” said Aaqib.
“PCB first hires a person and then the advertisement comes according to that person. So if you don’t fix your ad, anyone can apply, so what’s the criteria?” asked Aaqib. Aaqib reiterated his position that decisions should be made on merit, stressing that qualifications and experience are key factors in recruitment decisions.
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“I’ve always said you should create merit and make decisions based on that. Without any qualifications, without any experience, if a guy hasn’t coached a day, you hire him as a head coach. That’s not a criticism, that’s saying you they should have done the work professionally,” he added.
Moving into the ninth season of the Pakistan Super League, the head coach of Lahore Qalandars criticized the recently concluded season saying that it was lagging in various aspects such as standards of cricket, pitch quality, and crowd involvement. “This season of PSL has not been commendable in any way.
If you look at the level of cricket, if you look at the level of the pitches, if you look at the audience engagement, then you have seen nothing this time,” he concluded. It is worth noting that in the recently concluded PSL, Lahore Qalandars had a disappointing performance as they failed to live up to their past achievements. Out of the ten matches played, they suffered defeat in eight, only once secured a win and one match failed due to bad weather.
