Miandad blames foreign coaches for Pak's decline in cricket

Legendary Pakistan batsman Javed Miandad has lashed out at foreign coaches for causing damage to the country's cricket and bringing the national side on the brink of disaster.

"These foreign coaches and support staff have caused damage to Pakistan cricket and brought it to this stage. So what is the purpose of now consulting local players," the Dawn quoted Miandad as saying.

The former skipper also expressed anger towards the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for holding a two-day round table conference of current and former players in a bid to discuss and find solutions to the problems afflicting the country's cricket.

"No one has contacted me for this conference as yet. I read about it in the newspapers in which my name also appeared as one of the invited players. But it makes no sense to have this conference with local players when the board is employing foreign coaches on heavy salaries," he said.

Miandad, who coached Pakistan thrice in 1999, 2000 and 2003-04, further went on to say that the conference is being called just to fool the angry and upset fans and critics.

"It is ironic that when the board itself feels foreign coaches are the best solution for Pakistan cricket than they want to call us to give suggestions," said Miandad, who played 124 Tests and 233 ODIs in his illustrious career.

Miandad, who previously worked as director cricket in the PCB, also revealed that during his tenure he had discussed a comprehensive plan before the board on how to restructure Pakistan cricket but no one had paid attention to it.

Miandad was the third major player after Imran Khan and Rashid Latif to reject the PCB invitation to attend the conference chaired by chairman Shaharyar Khan in Lahore on March 6 and 7.