The PCB has showed it desire to retain Aaqib Javed in the national team’s support staff though he has been shortlisted for the job of UAE coach. Javed’s contract with the PCB as Pakistan’s bowling coach ends on February 29. According to Cricinfo, Javed wants to move on from the Pakistan role because of the heftier salary offered by UAE and to give his children more opportunities. Incidentally, the current UAE coach, former Pakistan fast bowler Kabir Khan, wants to shift out of the UAE as he said he was unable to find a suitable school for his children.
There has been no official word from Aaqib, but the PCB wants to extend his contract as a specialist bowling coach with the three-man coaching panel likely to be headed by Dav Whatmore. “His name was recommended by the coach committee as a bowling coach for the Pakistan cricket team,” the PCB Chairman, Zaka Ashraf, was quoted by Cricinfo as saying.
“Though his contract finishes at the end of the England series, we are all set to extend his contract and offer him a long-term role as bowling coach.
“He hasn’t informed us or tendered his resignation to the PCB but if he is thinking of it, then we have to sit down and talk to him. He is a qualified coach and a dedicated person. Obviously UAE has offered him a job considering his performance with Pakistan.
“I was informed that Javed is keen to take up the UAE job to give his family more opportunities and that is obviously his own choice and we can’t interfere in his personal matters. I definitely won’t stop him for wanting to boost his career but we will obviously want to inform him what we have decided for him about his future with Pakistan. Ultimately the decision is his own.”
Aaqib has been involved in coaching for a decade now, working his way up to a national role after starting at the grassroots level. He was earlier in contention for the job of Pakistan head coach but his chances faded as the coach committee wanted a foreigner for the role.
“We had to choose a foreign coach – who actually is more qualified than our coaches in Pakistan,” Ashraf said. “His job is not only to coach the player but will also help raise the level of our coaches. That will make our pool of coaches useful not only for Pakistan but for the rest of the world as well.”
