Former Pakistan cricket head coach Waqar Younis has said that his working relation with former T20I captain Shahid Afridi has been ruined after his scathing report on the team recent performances was leaked.
Waqar, who was once Pakistan captain himself, resigned earlier this week after his report, which he had submitted to the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Fact-Finding committee, was published in sections of the media.
“I have been very clear that report was for the cricket board, not the media,” he said. “Unfortunately, the report was leaked and my relationship with Afridi has been spoilt.”
The 44-year-old went on to say that Afridi’s biggest weakness was his temperament and said he lacked the ability to concentrate for longer periods.
“Afridi’s drawbacks as a captain are for everyone to see. He has a temperament issue. He cannot sit for too long to highlight things, or absorb things and then go and implement them. I’ve said this in my report.”
Waqar added that he was more compatible with Pakistan Test captain Misbahul Haq. “My relationship with Misbah was excellent and we all know that. Because I think he has got a great temperament for cricket. When you sit with him, he can talk about cricket for hours. And I think when you are a captain you need to absorb a lot of things from the coach.”
Further, the former coach went on to state that the main cause of Pakistan cricket’s downward spiral was the tug of war between the ‘two heads’ of PCB, wherein Najam Sethi and Shaharyar Khan tried to the pull the game in two different directions.
“The biggest issue was having two heads of a family; [it] did not help the cause,” he said. “Not only for the coach but cricket overall also suffered because the PCB has two heads and two different directions. That needs to be looked into. That is very important.”
‘Sarfraz must be given time to settle as a leader’
Waqar Younis says Sarfraz Ahmed’s appointment as the new Twenty20 skipper will not trigger a dramatic turnaround and has urged the stakeholders to give the wicketkeeper time to establish himself as a leader.
I don’t expect that he will come and perform miracles,” said Waqar.
“Captaincy adds a lot of pressure. We need to allow him time to settle,” he added.