LAHORE: Former prolific batsman and skipper of Pakistan Inzamam ul Haq on Wednesday announced to step down from the post of chief selector.
Talking to media in Lahore, he said he would accept any post offered by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) but selector’s. “I do not want to work as a selector anymore,” he said.
Thanking the cricket board for support during his tenure as the chief selector, the former skipper said he was resigning from his post because he wanted to give new selection committee members time to come up with fresh ideas.
Contract of Inzamam and other committee members had ended on April 30, but the PCB had extended the contract until July 31 because of the World Cup 2019.
The then chairman PCB Shaharyar Khan had appointed Inzamam on the post in April 2016.
Ostensibly irked by the criticism on selection of his nephew Imam ul Haq, the former right-hand batsman said he had already said that he had no role in his selection. He said the opening batsman came through the same procedure as others did to get into the national team.
“Imam was vice-captain of Under-19 team and I was in no respect attached to the board then. He also has a batting average of more than 50 runs in international arena,” he said.
During Inzamam-led selection committee’s term of office, Pakistan won Champions Trophy in 2017 and nearly missed qualification for the semis in the World Cup, however the performance during this mega event has elevated the International Cricket Council (ICC) ranking of the team in One Day International cricket.
On the Green Shirt’s performance during the World Cup, Inzamam ul Haq said as far as he knew cricket the team played very well. He said the national side made the two finalists bite the dust and won four matches. However, it was unfortunate that they were ruled out to qualify for the top four because of the net run-rate.
To a query about selection of the players, he said selection was done in consultation with the coach and captain. He said 15 members for the team were decided by the selection committee with inputs of the coach and the skipper. Then, 11 members of playing team were finalized by the captain and coach themselves, they could take the selector’s advice but the decision was completely theirs, he said.
