New Delhi, March 4 Pakistan’s musical chair with the head coach continues as former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed is well set to take over the vacant post for the two-Test series in Bangladesh in May, a news report claimed on Wednesday.
The post was vacant since December last year when Azhar Mahmood ended his contract —due to run until March 2026 — but with no Tests in the calendar until March-April next year, after an agreement with PCB. Now Sarfaraz Ahmed is looking set to take over the mantle, Telecom Asia Sport said in a report.
“Sarfaraz has been spoken to by Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi to take over as head coach of the Test team, and he has agreed to work with Shan Masood as captain, as the two are good friends and can help Pakistan improve their ninth place in the last World Test Championship,” sources told Telecom Asia Sport.
Pakistan finished fifth, seventh and ninth and last in the three World Test Championship cycles. Misbah-ul Haq was the other option who served as all-format head coach in 2019-20 before being removed by the then PCB chairman Ramiz Raja.
Pakistan also has Australian Jason Gillespie as Test coach in 2024 for a two-year stint, but the former pacer left after falling out with the PCB in December that year. Pakistan also have to play two Tests in the West Indies in July, followed by three in England in August.
Sarfaraz has no experience in coaching, but he was recently appointed mentor for Pakistan Under-19 and Pakistan Shaheens.
Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi feels Younis Khan should be appointed as Test coach. “With over 10,000 Test runs and a stature as high class batter in the longer format, I think Younis should be given the Test team,” Afridi told local media.
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