LAHORE: Former Test captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has thrown his weight behind former Test pacer Waqar Younis as new head coach of the national team.

The post of head coach has been lying vacant since March when the World T20 ended in dismay for Pakistan fans and after which Moin Khan as head coach was relieved and given three jobs by the PCB.

Talking to reporters during the Muslim Gymkhana Annual Festival match at the Bagh-i-Jinnah Cricket Ground here on Thursday, the former Test batman Inzamam accompanied by Moin Khan who has recently been blessed with three important posts in chief selector, manager of the national team and member of the coaches-finding committee said that Misbah-ul-Haq should be retained as ODI and Test captain.

Stating that Misbah was the best choice in the prevailing circumstances, the former captain said that experiments with the national team must be avoided.

“As the 50-over World Cup is less than a year away there is no need to do experiments and it would be better to hand over the best possible team to Misbah to prepare it for the mega event as was done by the PCB in the lead-up to the 1992 World Cup when Imran Khan was given the team one year before the event,” argued Inzamam.

The former Test batsman, however, said the PCB may opt to do experiments in the T20 format of the game while finalizing name for T20 captaincy. But he held that Misbah is the best choice for ODI and Test captaincy.

Answering a question, Inzamam said that he would support Waqar as the next head coach of the national team, adding that he had not applied for the post of batting coach neither had the PCB made any contact with him.

He further said that it was good that candidates for the coaching positions were submitting their applications.

Meanwhile, the newly-appointed chief selector-cum-team manager Moin Khan said he had accepted the new role as a challenge.

“I have accepted all the three posts as a challenge and I will try my level best to successfully perform in all the three roles,” Moin Khan told reporters here.

When asked as a team manager he would be away for months so how he would observe players’ performances at domestic level, Moin said members of the selection committee would brief him after observing players at the domestic level.

It is also instructive to note that the posts of manager and chief selector are full time jobs but the PCB has shown confidence in Moin by giving him both the important jobs.

Furthermore, Moin has also been inducted into the three-member coaches-finding committee, which will shortlist names of head coach, spin bowling coach and batting coach. Intikhab Alam and Haroon Rasheed are two other members of the said committee.

To a question about captaincy of the T20 side, the former captain said that criteria for the job of captaincy is neither experience nor inexperience player but first priority would be that the new captain had the ability to come up to the expectations of the nation.

“Yes some names have been appearing in the media and obviously one among them will be picked to lead the team,” Moin said.

The former captain also hailed efforts of the Muslim Gymkhana’s chief organiser Mian Aslam for holding the festival match.

He further said that clubs have been producing good players and players, irrespective of their status and experience, should be available to the clubs.