Miandad declines batting role once again

Opinion: Team management and PCB could not persuade Miandad for a stint as batting coach

Shahid Afridi and PCB chairman Ijaz Butt had personally requested Javed Miandad to become batting coach after Pakistan batsmen fared poorly in the just concluded World Cup. The response was heartening at first as Miandad indicated to take the offer after the end of West Indies tour. Team Manager Intikhab Alam has now confirmed that Miandad has turned down the role due to personal reasons.

No Pakistan batsman was able to score a century despite the fact that the World Cup was played on the batting-friendly tracks of Subcontinent. No one even registered his name in the top 20 run-scorers.

"The Pakistan team surely needs a batting coach and the board approached Miandad, but he unfortunately declined the offer because of personal reasons," Alam said. "But I am sure that he will help the players in the near future."

Batting has been a long-standing problem for Pakistan, but it has compounded after the retirement of Inzamam-ul-Haq and disappearance of Mohammad Yousuf. Pakistan banked on experienced Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq but they failed to deliver. Younis was never a good limited overs batsman while Misbah lacked in the ability to rotate the strike efficiently enough.

Javed Miandad is arguably the best batsman Pakistan has produced. He has scored 8832 runs at 52.57 in tests, highest by any Pakistan batsman. Apart from being a fine batsman, he was a shrewd character often helping his captain Imran Khan during Pakistan's golden years of cricket. He knows the game inside out and has a unique way of coaching.

He has coached Pakistan team three times before, but each time he had to go prematurely due to differences either with the management or the players. He was often criticized to be over-indulgent in his coaching method and many players were reported to be annoyed by his approach.

Although during his tenures, Pakistan did reasonably well, but the fact that he did not go along well with certain players meant he left the team in doldrums each time he parted ways. Another problem with him is said to be his allegedly big ego, which many term as over-enthusiasm on his part as he used to demand from players what he was able to do himself. He was appointed director-general cricket of PCB in October 2008, but he has always asked for his experience to be utilized in a better way for Pakistan.

His decision has not gone well especially with Shahid Afridi, whose disappointment was echoed in his statement: "If he is not available, then the board can hire other batting greats that this country has produced, or even look at a foreign batting coach,". "Pakistan cricket has to move on and it is not as if we have produced just one great batsman in the past," he said. Miandad responded by saying that a team does not need five coaches and he wants a full-time job with full authority.

Despite declining the coaching job, Miandad could not resist himself as he visited the players' training session and gave batting tips to the batsmen. After all, cricket and love of the country run in his blood.