By Omar Khalid, IANS,
Karachi : Former Pakistan captain Intikhab Alam was Saturday named new national cricket coach, less than 24 hours after the sacking of former Aussie Test pacer Geoff Lawson.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt said that Intikhab’s appointment will initially be for a two-year period and will be subject to approval of the PCB Governing Board that is set to meet next month.
Intikhab told IANS that he will take over as coach from Nov 2 and will be at the helm of Pakistan’s campaign in the one-day International series against the West Indies in Abu Dhabi next month.
Intikhab, 66, was manager of the Pakistan team that won the World Cup in Australia in 1992.
Intikhab, who played 47 Tests for Pakistan and took 125 wickets besides scoring 1,493 runs, said that his focus will be to unite the team. “Unity is the most important factor and contributes greatly towards good performance,” he said.
“We will also ensure that the team is disciplined because that is one area that really needs a lot of attention,” he stressed.
Intikhab refrained from commenting on whether he would support all-rounder Shoaib Malik as the captain. “It would be too premature to comment on the captaincy issue as I’ll be in a better position to speak on it once I’ve taken over as coach.”
Several leading former Test stars have criticized current skipper Shoaib Malik, terming him a weak captain.
Intikhab replaces Lawson, who was sacked as coach over his failure to bring any worthwhile improvement in the national team’s performance.
Intikhab said that he will give his best.
“It’s very important for me that Pakistan gets better and I’ll use all my experience to achieve that target.”