The sports ministry has recommended that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) refrain from extending a long-term contract to its current director of cricket, Mohammad Hafeez. The former Pakistan skipper assumed the role following the ODI World Cup 2023 disappointment last year and replaced Mickey Arthur.
Mohammad Hafeez’s tenure as PCB director of cricket is set to conclude after the conclusion of the T20I series against New Zealand. Pakistan has experienced three consecutive defeats in the ongoing series, following a 3-0 whitewash in the Test series against Australia earlier this month. The sports ministry’s response follows the PCB’s submission of the contract for approval to the ministry of inter-provincial coordination, responsible for overseeing sports-related matters in the country.
“The contract was for a long-term period but the board was told to just continue with the short-term arrangement with Hafeez which ends after the T20 series in New Zealand,” PTI quoted a reliable source as saying.
Hafeez accepted the offer after getting assurance of a contract extension
According to sources, Hafeez and other members who recently joined the PCB’s support staff agreed to their roles with the assurance of a contract extension from the board. Following the disappointing ODI World Cup campaign in India, Pakistan brought in Hafeez, along with new coaches Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Simon Helmot, and Adam Hollioake for the Australian tour.
“Now it appears (that) this is not going to happen, and as it is, the performance of the team has also been very bad under Hafeez and the other coaches, as they have lost all Tests in Australia and now the T201 series in New Zealand,” an insider said.
In addition to it, former Pakistan player Yasir Arafat also took over from Simon Helmot as the high-performance coach for the T20Is in New Zealand. The appointment of new coaches followed the PCB’s decision to reassign foreign coaches Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn, and Andrew Puttick to the National Cricket Academy after the World Cup. However, all three declined the new assignment and opted for vacations. Subsequently, they resigned after reaching an undisclosed financial agreement with the PCB.
