Pakistan, on Monday announced the squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup, starting from October 17. They named 15 players with 3 travel reserves in the squad.
There are, however, a few surprises in the squad as veteran players like Shoaib Malik and Sarfaraz Ahmed missed out from the squad. Babar Azam, as usual, will lead the team.
Meanwhile, in the latest turn of events, Pakistan men’s national cricket team head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis have stepped down from their respective roles.
Pakistan cricket announced the development on the micro-blogging website Twitter.
Notably, both Misbah and Waqar have been serving Pakistan cricket since September 2019 and still had a year each left in their contracts. The decision undoubtedly raise a few eyebrows as it comes with just a month to go for the T20 World Cup.
Pakistan, meanwhile, appointed former spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and former all-rounder Abdul Razzaq as interim coaches for the New Zealand series.
Misbah-ul-Haq stated that the timing of his decision is not right but he had to take the call to spend time with his family.
“The quarantine in Jamaica post the West Indies series provided me with an opportunity to reflect on the past 24 months as well as the schedule for international cricket ahead”, Misbah said, as quoted by a PCB statement.
“Considering that I would have had to continue to spend considerable time away from my family and that too in a bio-secure environment, I have decided to step down from the role,” he added.
“I understand that the timing may not be ideal but I don’t think I am in the right frame of mind for the upcoming challenges and it makes sense for someone fresh to step-in and take the side forward.”
Waqar Younis, on the other hand asserted that after Misbah shared his decision of stepping down, it was a straightforward decision for him to resign as they had walked into the roles together, and now also stepped down together.
“After Misbah shared with me his decision and future plans, it was a straightforward one for me to resign as we had walked into the roles together, had worked collectively as a pair and now also step down together.
“Working with the Pakistan bowlers, including the youngsters, has been most satisfying as they have now started to show progress. Bio-secure environments in the past 16 months have had their impact, something we had never experienced during our playing days.