Poor health may not be the reason for Waqar Younis’ stepping down as Pakistan cricket coach as speculations are rife that his exit was the result of a fallout with former PCB chairman Ijaz Butt. Although the former Test captain said he was resigning for personal and health reasons, there are now reports emerging that perhaps Waqar might have also rubbed Butt the wrong way. Media reports claim that Waqar decided to resign after being snubbed by Butt over the issue of the role of the coach in selection matters and some reports said that he wanted the coaching staff including Aaqib Javed and Ijaz Ahmed in tact which Mr Butt did not want. “The rumors are that Waqar wanted the board to give a clear cut policy on the role of the coach in selection matters and he obviously wanted more say in such matters. At one point he told some board officials who were close to the outgoing Chairman that if he (Waqar) didn’t get powers he would rather resign as coach,” a report said.
Apparently after Waqar’s words were conveyed to Butt, the former board Chairman lost his cool and sent a message to him that if he was not happy with his role and he should resign immediately. “It was after the snub from the board Chairman that Waqar decided to resign coming up with the story that he had personal and health reasons to do this. But the circumstances leading to his resignation tell another story,” another report said. The fact that Waqar has turned up in Abu Dhabi as a commentator and expert for Ten sports for the Pakistan and Sri Lanka Test series has also lent credence to the media speculations about the real reasons for his stepping down. “Butt was more or less a dictator and felt that no one was bigger than the board or its Chairman,” one source said. Waqar decided to resign even though he had more than 15 months left in his coaching contract with the board and this now leaves the PCB searching for a new head coach.
