Former Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq on Wednesday denied media reports that he has received a contract extension till 2017 with the Afghanistan cricket team.
Inzamam told reporters that he has not signed any extension with the Afghan national team who recently beat Zimbabwe under his coaching to bag their first-ever ODI and T20 series win.
Earlier, Kabir Khan, the former Afghanistan coach, had told Press Trust of India (PTI) that Inzamam had told him that he has accepted a two-year contract with the Afghanistan team which will do them a lot of good.
“Inzamam is satisfied with what he saw in Zimbabwe and believes that the Afghanistan team has good cricket talent and can move ahead,” Kabir had said.
Kabir, who is now a national selector in Pakistan, said Inzamam was happy with his first stint with the team, and that his experience and cricketing acumen will help improve the team’s batting standards.
“Inzamam is a cricket great and he can do a lot to improve their batting standards,” Kabir said. “And his calibre and stature is such he will remain above any petty politics which have hurt Afghanistan cricket.”
Earlier, Inzamam had accepted a 25-day role to coach Afghanistan on their tour of Zimbabwe.
“I have accepted the role of Afghanistan team coach only for the tour of Zimbabwe,” Inzamam told AFP.
“It will be exciting and I would love to put their enormous passion on the right track.”
Most of the Afghan players learned the game in refugee camps on the Pakistan border after Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979.
They burst on to the cricket world stage in 2009, graduating from Division Five to Division One in the International Cricket Council programme.
Since then they have featured in three World Twenty20 tournaments, and earlier this year made their maiden appearance in the 50-over World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand.
They also won a silver medal in the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
However they hit a speedbump in August this year, when the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) decided not to extend their English coach Andy Moles’ one-year tenure, admitting communication between Moles and the team had been a challenge.
Most Afghan players speak Urdu, however, and before Inzamam, former Pakistan players Kabir Khan and Rashid Latif also had stints as Afghanistan coach.
Inzamam said the ACB had been pursuing him for two years.
“They offered me the role of head coach and had been after me for the last two years, and now they have asked me to help them for the Zimbabwe series, which I have agreed,” said Inzamam.
“They are aggressive and passionate which could be both good and bad, if it is not controlled, so I will try to teach them that control and how to use their passion in the right manner.”
