Misbah-led committee to decide Arthur-led coaching staff's future

Misbah-ul-Haq, the former captain of Pakistan's cricket team, has been appointed as an advisor to Zaka Ashraf, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) management committee, with a focus on cricket affairs. He also has been given the leading role to head the cricket committee.

In an exclusive interview with Cricket Pakistan, PCB chair Ashraf told that the cricket committee was formed to look after all crucial matters and to pan out better suggestions for the improvement of Pakistan cricket.

"I formed a cricket committee as soon as I held the office, which is headed by Misbah-ul-Haq. The committee will look after all the cricketing matters," Ashraf said.

The 70-year-old also stated that for now, the coaching staff is performing well so far, but PCB is banking on the Misbah-led committee to decide the coaching staff's future.

"To me, it doesn't matter whether the coaches are local or foreign; whoever will perform well to me that is better. Basically, we have to strive towards the betterment of the Pakistan team. We need coaches that support the team and work towards the improvement of the team's performance. As of yet, coaches are doing well. But as I said earlier, we have formed a committee, and recommendations from the committee will be taken into consideration before reaching a final decision," he further added.

Talking about the nominations for Chief Selector's role, Ashraf asserted that they have different names on the catalog; however, the final choice will be made on the committee's recommendations. 

"We have plenty of names on the list for the role of Chief Selector. Now that we have a cricket committee, we will take their advice on the said matter. For now, we are going with the already formed system, with respect to foreign coaches helping in the team's selection. We will take a step in the forward direction once the cricket committee comes up with their own recommendations," Ashraf concluded.

Zaka Ashraf was appointed as the chairman of the newly formed management committee of the PCB on July 6th, 2023, serving a four-month term. Supported by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Ashraf was handed over the responsibility of overseeing the affairs of the PCB with the approval of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.