Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s interim management committee, Najam Sethi has defended the performance of the national team in its ODI series against South Africa but indications are strong there will be changes in the team management soon.
Sethi, who witnessed some parts of the series which Pakistan lost 1-4, said the national team and young players needed to be encouraged and supported.
“We didn’t perform that badly in the series against a top side we were close to winning two matches and we have to keep in mind we have a young side,” Sethi told reporters on Monday after returning to Lahore from Dubai.
But reliable sources in the board said that a decision in principle had been taken to not only release head coach, Dav Whatmore and fielding coach, Julian Fountain and also change the captain for the one-day matches but the board was facing a dilemma when to make these changes.
Dilemma
“The dilemma is whether to make the necessary changes before the team’s unscheduled one-day series in South Africa this month or after the tour ends,” a source said.
He also said that the team management after supporting the return of experienced all-rounders, Shoaib Malik and Abdul Razzaq to the national T20 squad had now also requested for senior batsman, Younis Khan to be recalled for the three one-day games in South Africa.
“No one was expecting Pakistan to not win the Test or one-day series in familiar conditions in the UAE and the margin of defeat in the ODI series in particular has come as a shock. The constant failure of the batting now a big headache for the board,” another source said.
He said that now the Interim Management Committee (IMC) had to decide whether to ring changes before the team goes to SA or afterwards. “One immediate move could be to bring back Younis, Malik and Razzaq to the one-day squad as well,” the source said.
