Chief selector breathing down players’ necks a bad idea: Moin

Former Pakistan cricket captain Moin Khan believes the appointment of chief selector Mohsin Khan as interim coach of the team will put an added pressure on the players. “It is never a good idea to have the chief selector on tour or holding any post within the team. Mohsin’s presence will only add to the pressure on the players particularly the younger ones in the coming series against Sri Lanka,” Moin said. The Pakistan Cricket Board appointed Mohsin as interim coach for the series against Sri Lankan in UAE, scheduled to commence on October 18, and named Mohammad Illyas – a member of the national selection committee – as the acting chief selector.
“Illyas has been named chief selector until Mohsin is with the national team because during the series itself the Board has to announce the squad for the one-day and T20 matches and secondly the tour to Bangladesh is also scheduled soon after the series against Sri Lanka in the UAE,” a board official explained.
Mohsin’s appointment as interim coach caught everyone by surprise in the Pakistani cricket circles with former Test cricketer, Basit Ali, saying it was a calculated move by the Board to allow the chief selector to observe the things closely. The interim appointment comes in the wake of Waqar Younis’ resignation as head coach after the Zimbabwe tour due to some health reasons. The Pakistan team leaves on October 14 for the UAE to play three Tests and five ODIs against the Lankans besides one Twenty20 international. Mohsin on his coaching assignment made it clear that it would give him a good opportunity to watch the progress of the young players in the side.
“It is a big challenge for me as Sri Lanka are a tough side but I believe we have the best possible combination and seniors like Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan must show the way to the other players,” the former Test opener said.
Mohsin also made it clear that his main emphasis as coach would be to just fine tune the players on technical issues and prepare them mentally for the Lankan challenge. “I will work on making the players mentally stronger because there is no lack of talent in the side,” he added. The board has also appointed Colonel Naushad Ali as the manager of the side for the SL series but he will be demoted to assistant manager once Naved Cheema resumes his duty in the middle of the one-day series against the Islanders. Mohsin also defended the decision to drop promising young batsman, Umar Akmal from the Test side saying the country expects better performances from him.
“He has been given lot of opportunities and we don’t require just 20s and 30s from him because given his immense potential if he brings some discipline and purpose to his game he can become a world beater. We have told him go and play in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy and learn to adapt to the requirements of longer version of the game,” Mohsin revealed.