Babar, Saqlain had recommended foreign coaches for national team: PCB chief

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja has said that captain Babar Azam and interim head coach Saqlain Mushtaq had recommended foreign coaches for the national team.

Even wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan is in favour of bringing in experts from overseas.

"During my discussions with Babar, Rizwan and later Saqlain they all said it would be better to integrate foreign coaches in the national team's dressing room," the former Test captain said.

Raja had brought in Australian Matthew Hayden and South Africa's Vernon Philander as batting and bowling consultants in the Pakistan dressing room for the T20 World Cup where the team lost in the semi-finals to eventual champions Australia after remaining unbeaten in the super-12 stage.

Raja said his view, which he conveyed to the trio, was that more local coaches should be with the team on away tours so that they get a chance to groom themselves and gain experience and exposure.

"My thinking is also that you only need regular coaches if you want to have the best dressing room environment and I think we already have that in our team."

He also disclosed that he had intentionally not appointed a full support staff of technical coaches for the tour of Bangladesh and the home series against West Indies recently as he wanted to see the team stand on its own feet with its own thinking.

"I believe that a player only attains greatness in a team when he has to work hard in a difficult situation to perform without any support."

The PCB has already advertised for the position of five coaches including a power-hitting batting coach and high performance centre head coach, a position left vacant after the resignation of New Zealand's Grant Bradburn.

After Raja became the PCB chairman, the Pakistan team's head coach since late 2019, Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis, resigned abruptly after returning from the tour of the West Indies and just before the T20 World Cup.