The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is set to appoint batsman Azhar Ali as the new captain of the one-day team and wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed as his deputy.
Pakistan scheduled to tour Bangladesh for a Test and one-day series from mid-AprilIronically Azhar has not played an ODI since early 2013 when he played in Kolkata but apparently the support he got from captain Misbah-ul-Haq and coach Waqar Younis turned the tide in his favour.
Chief selector Moin Khan was told in clear terms his tenure is over.
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“I gave a presentation to the Chairman (Shaharyar Khan) on what the selectors had done in my tenure and he seemed reluctant to accept them,” a visibly upset Moin said.
Shaharyar later admitted that Moin had given him a presentation and also expressed the desire to continue as the chief selector. “But I told him the cricket and executive committees want to adopt a new plan for Pakistan team after the World Cup,” Shaharyar told PTI .
Although the PCB is expected to announce the new appointments it was abundantly clear that the stake holders in the board had decided upon Ali and Sarfraz as captain and vice-captain choices.
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“Apparently they considered other candidates like Wahab Riaz, Fawad Alam and Mohammad Hafeez but have eventually settled for Azhar Ali,” a source close to the chairman said.
“The interesting thing is that Hafeez got just one vote when the cricket and executive committees had a joint meeting this week,” the source added.