The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has appointed former all-rounder Azhar Mahmood as the team's head coach for their home series against New Zealand later this summer.
Mahmood will be joined by Wahab Riaz as senior team manager, while former cricketers Mohammad Yousuf and Saeed Ajmal will be the batting and bowling coaches, respectively.
Incidentally, Mahmood is not on a long-term deal as he is expected to remain as head coach only until the end of the series. He takes over from Mohammad Hafeez, who held the position until recently.
Grant Bradburn was the last full-time coach Pakistan had, until he departed in 2023 along with Mickey Arthur, who was their Director of Cricket. The PCB has been on the lookout for a permanent head coach ever since.
A lot of names have been on the radar of the PCB since then, with some going as far as putting former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson in the mix.
As of now, however, they have zeroed in on Azhar Mahmood to handle things for the New Zealand series, in which the senior team will play five T20Is in Rawalpindi and Lahore.
Pakistan will now have their fifth head coach in two years
Pakistan are infamous for having a high turnover rate of head coaches, with as many as 27 coaches being appointed for the national team since 1992.
Often the coaches of the team are sacked midway through their tenures, which requires administrators to ask for interim coaches to fill in their boots.
Since 2021, Pakistan have had four coaches already, with Azhar Mahmood being their fifth, albeit in a temporary role.
After Misbah Ul Haq departed in 2021, former off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq was given the top position, which he held for two years until 2023. After he left, Abdul Rehman was asked to fill in for a temporary role, while Grant Bradburn was then brought in as a full-time appointee at last.
However, the Kiwi stepped down in January earlier this year after the board made it clear to him that he had failed to live up to expectations in not leading the side to the semi-finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup held in India in 2023.
Former captain and T20 specialist Mohammad Hafeez took over as interim coach after Bradburn's departure this year, but has now been replaced by Mahmood.
Hafeez was, in fact, appointed director of cricket following the disastrous Pakistani performance at the World Cup. He was given a four-year contract, but his stay was cut excruciatingly short by the board after their poor showing on the tours of Australia and New Zealand earlier this year.
Controversies, as always, are commonplace in Pakistan cricket, and the removal of Hafeez and appointment of Mahmood is merely a sideshow. It remains to be seen who the PCB have in mind for a full-time role as head coach.
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