The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is unlikely to appoint Ijaz Ahmed Junior as the head coach of the under-16 cricket team, media reports said, reasoning Ijaz’s reported performance during the recently held Emerging Teams Asia Cup.
Mohammad Ashraf and Shaukat Mirza will coach the side during the upcoming under-16 series against Australia in United Arab Emirates (UAE), reports say.
It was earlier reported that lack of knowledge of rules was the reason why Pakistan failed to go past the semi-final stage of the tournament.
The management was reportedly not aware of the rules of the tournament and ended up facing India in the semi-finals instead of Sri Lanka. Coach Ijaz and Major Colonel retired Naushad Ali failed to understand the playing conditions of the tournament, reports claim.
Due to the same reason, top performer Sahibzada Farhan was rested in the Bangladesh game as the management wasn’t giving value to it.
Despite the better run-rate, Pakistan ended their group campaign as runners-up while Bangladesh topped the group due to playing in away conditions.
Furthermore, captain Mohammad Rizwan was also not aware of the rule as he mentioned about topping the group during a press conference.
They had planned to face Sri Lanka, and ended up facing India — who defeated Pakistan by seven wickets in the semi-final.
Reports further revealed, that coach’s role was quite limited and mostly Rizwan took all the decisions including shuffling in team order. That was another reason for the team’s below-par performance in the tournament.
