Former Pakistan captain and legendary all-rounder Imran Khan believes that a coach has a very limited role in international cricket and it is the captain who matters most. Imran was talking in the context of Waqar Younis’ resignation and his probable substitute. Younis announced his decision to quit as the national coach before the tour of Zimbabwe and said that the tour will be his last.
At present moment, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is looking for a coach and is facing a dilemma, whether the national coach should be a local guy or a foreigner. He gave the example of the Australian team under Steve Waugh and later Ricky Ponting considered best ever in cricket history. Imran said that Australia did not become invincible because of their coach, in fact, the credit goes to the players and the domestic cricket structure. “Coaches basically have limited role in helping a team and I don’t understand this obsession with coaches, because basically Australia was not the best team because of their coach; they were the best team because they were a great team and they had a good domestic cricket structure which kept on throwing up good players and they had a good quality captain,” said Imran.
Imran, who is considered amongst the best all-rounders the game has ever seen, said that a lot of undue influence is attributed to coaches, but if a coach could be so influential, then minnows like Zimbabwe and Bangladesh would have been among the top teams just by hiring good coaches. “If a coach was such a big thing then Zimbabwe or Bangladesh or one of the other weaker teams could just have a good coach and he could transform the team,” Imran added. Imran himself was a very strong captain in his playing days and never allowed the team management to call the shots, which is very much reflected from his approach towards the game.
