Pakistan’s search for a foreign coach hit a major blow after both former Australian allrounder Shane Watson and former West Indian captain Darren Sammy withdrew from the race to bag the head coach role in the men’s senior national team. Sammy turned down the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) offer as he is already the head coach of the West Indies white-ball team and hence remains contracted with Cricket West Indies. However, Watson was left disgruntled after the details of his discussions with the Pakistan board were leaked in the media, but dropped out of the race owing to the Indian Premier League (IPL).
According to a report in the PTI, Watson had a detail conversation on the position with a PCB official in Karachi on the sidelines of the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL). The Aussie had in fact agreed upon the offer besides keeping a few conditions before accepting it. But with the details of the pay package being leaked to the media, Watson was left disappointed.
“Watson had initially shown interest and kept certain financial and other conditions to accept the offer,” the source said. “But after the board more or less accepted Watson’s financial demands the Australian was not happy that details of the proposed package were leaked out in the Pakistan media and social media.”
According to reports in Pakistan, PCB’s offer to Watson was around US$2 million a year.
Watson, however, withdrew his name from the race owing to his commitments as a commentator in the IPL and later in the major USA league besides wanting to give more time to his young family in Sydney.
PCB will most likely name an interim head coach who will overlook the training camp in Kakul from March 25 to April 8 ahead of the home five-match T20 series against New Zealand from April 14 in Lahore and Rawalpindi.
“A team of local coaches as an interim arrangement for the camp and NZ series is the only available option for the PCB now and Chairman Mohsin Naqvi will be required to make a call after the PSL final on 18th March,” the source said.
