Pakistani cricket board confirmed that it was replacing team manager Intikhab Alam with Naved Akram Cheema for this month’s tour of Zimbabwe.
“Cheema will take charge for the tour of Zimbabwe as the new manager,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman Nadeem Sarwar told AFP.
Alam, a former Pakistan captain, already serves as director of game planning at the National Cricket Academy and is a member of the PCB governing board.
Pakistan plays one Test, three one-day internationals and two Twenty20 matches on their tour of Zimbabwe which starts this month.
The International Cricket Council had suggested that Pakistan appoint a long-term manager as part of 63 recommendations designed to improve the country’s cricket, and had objected to Alam’s multiple posts.
But the PCB had disagreed, saying “there are other countries that nominate managers on a tour-by-tour basis and the system works well for them”.
The 69-year-old Alam had been manager since last year’s tour of England, when a spot-fixing scandal during the Lord’s Test rocked Pakistan.
Test captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer were handed lengthy bans by the ICC, and the trio also face criminal charges in England.
Alam was also manager and coach during Pakistan’s only World Cup triumph in Australia in 1992, then coached the team to their World Twenty20 victory in England two years ago.
Under his most recent tenure, wicket-keeper batsman Zulqarnain Haider stirred controversy by escaping to London from the team hotel in Dubai, claiming he had received death threats from bookmakers.
He applied for political asylum in Britain before returning home with assurances from the Pakistani government of his safety.
Cheema had vowed to keep strict discipline in the team.
