KARACHI: Former Pakistan head coach and ex-chief selector Mohsin Khan on Thursday bitterly criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for not following the criteria it had set for the appointment of national team head coach.

Addressing a crowded news conference at the Karachi Club Annexe, the former Test batsman minced no words in saying had he been offered the role of head coach, he wouldn’t have worked with those people with tainted reputation.

“I strongly condemn the manner in which the PCB chose to overlook the procedure it had laid down by advertising the [support staff] jobs for the Pakistan team. If they had made up their mind beforehand then what was the purpose of advertising the positions,” Mohsin questioned.

“Why did they go through the hassle of hoodwinking those people who had applied for the vacancies? The practice of short-listing the candidates for interviews was callously ignored. Does the PCB think that we are a bunch of fools? All my life, I had endured occasions when great injustices were meted out.

“But now I thought it would be better for me to highlight the wrongs the PCB has committed. I’m not afraid to raise my voice in the fight against corruption and the bad policies of the board. If damage-control steps aren’t taken I foresee a bleak future for Pakistan cricket,” he warned.

Without naming Waqar Younis, who on Tuesday was announced by the board as the head coach for two years, Mohsin lashed out at the three-man PCB committee of Moin Khan, Intikhab Alam and Haroon Rashid for recommending the fast bowling great for the high-profile post.

“I felt I was a ‘very’ deserving candidate for the head coach role before the PCB made the announcement on Tuesday. But the board chairman [Najam Sethi], it seems, gives importance to a group of ‘yes men’ who are his advisers,” Mohsin, who played in 48 Tests and 75 One-day Internationals from March 1977 until December 1986, pointed out.

“I had also applied before Moin was handed the job for the Asia Cup and the ICC World Twenty20 but I avoided saying anything then since it was a short-term appointment. However, this time the situation was totally different.

“I would like to question: how come Mr Sethi has been given powers to make long-term decisions when his position [as PCB chairman] is for just four months,” he said in a reference to the two-year contracts offered to both Moin and Waqar. “I have nothing personal either against Moin or Waqar and I wish them the best of luck because they represent Pakistan on the cricketing stage.”

Mohsin, 59, who as the interim head coach guided Pakistan to a 3-0 clean-sweep against the then world No 1 Test side England in the UAE in early 2012 — alleged the PCB was patronising a culture in which tainted ex-players were being obliged with key positions.

“We have had a fair share of controversies in the past several years. But the PCB chief is giving tainted players of the past key positions with the national team. I always I insist ‘don’t play with Pakistan but play for Pakistan’. The current board is keen on pleading Mohammad Amir’s case with the ICC. The player committed a big crime and was rightly punished for his actions but the PCB hierarchy wants his sentence reduced for their own benefit.

“I have come out in the media today because I believe that through this powerful medium one can express the wrongdoings of the PCB. I invite you people to plead my case because to all of us Pakistan’s image comes before anything else,” Mohsin underlined.

When asked if the PCB offered him the role of batting coach, would he accept it, Mohsin retorted that he had no desire to work under a ‘junior’ cricketer who had been named the head coach.

“This is not my way of working. I will never work under a cricketer who is much junior to me. But my desire to serve Pakistan cricket is always there,” he quipped. “But if I had been offered the [head coach] job I would have done it on my terms and conditions. I would have clearly told the chairman that I’m not the one to tolerate people with tainted background.”

Mohsin further emphasised had the PCB been sincere and consistent in its policies, corruption within the system would have been stamped out long ago.

“To give you an example, South Africa banned their captain [Hansie Cronje] for life for his involvement in match-fixing. Look where South Africa stand now; there is no trace of corruption in their cricket now. Likewise, India strongly dealt with their tainted players by handing them exemplary punishments,” he pointed out.

“But the PCB did not act severely when players were found guilty of such offences. Instead of taking the corrupted lot head on, they showered them with lucrative positions from time to time. Pakistan has become a laughing stock and even the ICC has now begun to treat them suspiciously.”