Was Azhar Mahmood picked over Misbah for the Test head coach role?

A day after former all-rounder Azhar Mahmood was appointed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as men's acting red-ball head coach, ex-Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has made startling claims regarding his new role with the team.

The PCB officially confirmed Mahmood's appointment on Monday, stating that the 50-year-old will serve as acting red-ball head coach until the conclusion of his current contract in April 2026.

The former all-rounder, who signed a two-year deal with the PCB in April 2024, has previously served as the national side’s assistant coach. 

Under his leadership, Pakistan will begin their ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025–27 campaign with a two-match home series against South Africa in October-November, followed by a two-match away series against Bangladesh in March-April 2026.

Appearing on a local YouTube channel, Ali disclosed that Misbah-ul-Haq was initially set to become the head coach, according to Geo Super.

However, a shift in preferences within the PCB hierarchy, particularly votes of support from Director of High Performance Aqib Javed and T20I captain Salman Ali Agha, led to Mahmood’s appointment instead.

"Misbah was about to become the head coach, but things change with the wind. Now, considering what Javed said and what captain Salman Ali Agha said, [Azhar] Mahmood has been made the red-ball coach — I'm telling you this with authenticity, otherwise Misbah had already been finalised as coach," Basit stated.

"It's because of [Salman Ali] Agha's vote that Mahmood was given the role of interim coach. Some things are like that — we can't speak about them openly; we also have to be considerate," he added.

The 54-year-old also criticised the inconsistent approach taken by the PCB in coaching appointments, questioning the prolonged delay in the official announcement and the unequal treatment of mentors who were previously let go.

"This delay that's been happening — as you just mentioned, Mahmood’s contract is until April 2026 — well, the mentors also had a three-year contract. So what happened? Why were they sidelined after being paid off?" he questioned.

He emphasised the need for consistency and fairness in decision-making, highlighting that if early terminations were acceptable in one case, they should be equally applied across the board.

"If you’re using a scale of fairness, it should be applied equally to everyone. You didn't let the mentors work for three years. If you intended to remove them, you could have done the same here — paid one or two months' salary and let them go," he concluded.