PCB open to appoint foreign coach at Lahore's High Performance Centre

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday said it is open to appoint a foreign head coach at its High Performance Centre in Lahore.

PCB's newly-appointed Director of High Performance, Nadeem Khan said that merit and experience would be the main criterion while deciding the individual.

"Now if a foreigner meets the criteria he will be appointed. If a Pakistani meets all eligibility criteria he will be selected," Nadeem said while speaking to reporters via video conference.

The former left-arm spinner, who is the elder brother of Pakistan's former Test captain Moin Khan, also made it clear that coaches with a suspicious background or history would not be allowed to work at the High Performance Centre.

"We will check the background of all the available coaches and if if someone has a suspicious background he will be released," Nadeem said.

Nadeem, who has replaced former Test all-rounder Mudassar Nazar as the head of the High Performance Centre, didn't agree with suggestions that only players with more international experience will be up for reckoning.

"It is not necessary for this to happen in modern day cricket. They are many examples of cricketers who have played very little or no international cricket but are yet very successful as coaches or high performance managers," he noted.

Nadeem, 50, who made just two Test and as many ODI appearances for Pakistan, also said that he would introduce a proper tracking system for players in the country starting from the under-13 level.

"We need to have a proper tracking system for all players as we have lost and will keep losing a lot of good talent because we don't keep track of a player's progress, development, behaviour and discipline properly over the years," he said.

He also said that he didn't believe in introducing a fitness culture among players forcibly.

"Fitness is something that I believe we have to just make individuals realise its importance and take interest in it themselves without anyone having to tell them what to do," Nadeem said.