PCB set to mull over split captaincy, new coach in Lahore meet

LAHORE: With Pakistan crashing out of the World Cup 2023, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is set to mull over options of introducing split captaincy and hiring of new coach next week.

The high-level meeting — chaired by PCB Management Committee, Zaka Ashraf — is to be held at the board's Lahore headquarters next week and will also be attended by former cricketers and captains who will provide their insights on the team's dismal performance in the tournament.

The development comes as the Green Shirts' World Cup journey ended on Saturday (today) as they are unlikely to chase England's 338-run target in the required overs to surpass New Zealand's net run rate (NRR) to progress to the semis.

Pakistan needed to restrict England to 100 runs to have any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals but, since the latter have gone past that figure, the Men in Green are now out of the tournament. 

The Babar Azam-led side has so far managed to win only four out of their eight matches — including a defeat to arch-rivals India and Afghanistan — with a rather unimpressive NRR of 0.036.

PCB Technical Committee head Misbah-ul-Haq along with ex-cricketers Umar Gul, Azhar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Mushtaq Ahmed, Aqib Javed, Mohsin Khan, and Moin Khan will give their inputs to Ashraf.

The board also wants to get in contact with Mohammad Hafeez, who resigned from the committee just before the World Cup squad was announced.

Ashraf will talk about the possible changes in the coaching staff and there will be legal consultation on their contracts as well.

The name of Justin Langer would be discussed for the coaching.

The options of different captains for red-ball and white-ball format are also one of the agendas for the upcoming meeting.

However, some top officials of PCB do not want big changes to take place just before the three-match Test tour to Australia.

Babar, who entered the World Cup as the top-ranked ODI batter but his an average of 40.28, has been under scrutiny for his captaincy and the team's dismal performance in the mega event.

The number three batter's highest score of 74 came in their shock loss to Afghanistan but the 29-year-old denied that the captaincy was affecting his form with the bat.

According to sources, the skipper has already started consultations with his close aides about his future and reportedly made up his mind to quit whit-ball captaincy.