Former Australian cricketer Shane Watson is no longer in the coaching race for the Pakistan Cricket Team. According to the revolving reports, he was one of the strong contenders the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been looking to rope in among its international coaches panel.
Mohsin Naqvi, the newly-elected PCB chairman, has decided to bring multiple foreign coaches on board and form a mix of local and foreign coaches set up. Notably, after the conclusion of the World Cup 2023 in India, Zaka Ashraf-led PCB management excluded all foreign coaches from the panel including director Mickey Arthur.
However, with the new PCB management, multiple reforms are set to take place. Naqvi reportedly approached various names and Watson was one of them. It was reported that the former Australian all-rounder is one hundred per cent willing to sign the contract. PCB was set to pay him an annual salary of $2 Million.
It was also revealed that Watson would sign the contract only for limited-over cricket, which indicated that PCB would have to look for a different red-ball coach. However, since Watson is no longer among the foreign coaches contenders for the national team, PCB will shortlist from other names.
Notably, Watson was recently working with Quetta Gladiators as the head coach. He has left Pakistan already since the Gladiators were eliminated during the Eliminator 1 on Friday. Watson’s upcoming duties include commentating during the 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) and being head coach for San Fransisco Unicorns during the Major League Cricket (MLC).
PCB was looking to fill in the void ahead of Pakistan vs New Zealand’s five-match T20I series followed by four T20Is in England. Pakistan cricket team will then begin their journey in the T20 World Cup 2024 in June. With a series of limited-over endeavours loading, a challenge looms on the heads of PCB management to rope in a coach on short notice.
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