Lahore, March 07: Newly-appointed Pakistan coach Waqar Younis has secured a lucrative contract with the PCB, which will also see the former fast bowler donning the new role until December 2011.
According to ‘The News’, PCB chairman Ijaz Butt confirmed that Younis has been given a contract until next December and will be paid a monthly salary of Rs 650,000.
Waqar, one of finest exponents of reverse swing bowling, was recently appointed as the coach of the national team after the team’s shambolic show Down Under, where they lost all the matches in the Test and ODI-series, and the one-off Twenty20 against Australia.
The former paceman was named the new coach, replacing Intikhab Alam, over national and foreign coaches including ex-captain Wasim Akram.
However, Butt said Akram was also making the rounds for the coaching job but considering his commmittments, Waqar was chosen over him.
”We had a choice in between Waqar and Wasim Akram, but since Akram was busy with his commitments in media we decided to appoint Waqar as the new coach,” Butt said, adding that former Test batsman Ijaz Ahmed will assist Waqar as fielding and batting coach. Waqar, who is based in Sydney is expected to arrive Pakistan next week to take up his new assignment.
Butt further revealed that the PCB was mulling over appointing a coach from abroad, but that all the candidates were too expensive and unwilling to live in Pakistan citing security reasons.
”Foreign coaches were demanding big money and were willing to work with our team only when its touring some other country.
”This was not acceptable to us,” Butt was quoted as saying by the daily.
Meanwhile, former coach Alam, who took over in October 2008 from Geoff Lawson, has been appointed as director cricket academies and Butt believes that the former Test spinner will groom youngsters in cricket academies here and in Karachi. ”Soon we will have two more academies in Multan and Islamabad and Alam’s services will be utilised in all these four academies,” the PCB chief added.
——-Agencies