Inzamam quits as Afghanistan coach, set to be named Pakistan chief selector

E-Paper | April 29, 2026

KARACHI: Former Pakistan cricket captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is set to be appointed as the country's chief selector after he was released from his role as Afghanistan's head coach.

The 46-year-old Inzamam guided Afghanistan to the Super 10 stage of the recent World Twenty20 in India, during which they defeated eventual champions West Indies. He had a contract with the Afghan board (ACB) until the end of the year.

ACB Chief Shafiq Stanikzai said he had received a request from his Pakistan Cricket Board counterpart Shaharyar Khan to release the former batting great from his contract.

“Today Shaharyar Khan called me and asked a favour to release Inzamam-ul-Haq as they are keen to hire him,” Stanikzai told reporters.

Pakistan exited the World Twenty20 after losing three of their four games in the Super 10 stage prompting head coach Waqar Younis to resign.

Inzamam played 378 one-day internationals and 120 tests for Pakistan and also served as the team's batting consultant for a brief period in 2012.

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H L

Apr 17, 2016 11:49am

Not so sure if this is a right move. Though I have no doubt about Inzi's capabilities. But is he the right man to do this job? Time will tell.

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faisal

Apr 17, 2016 11:53am

Finally we have a Chief Selector who has actually played cricket and was selected for team throughout his career.

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Samrat

Apr 17, 2016 11:55am

What penalty for contract breach?

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Nabeel Ahmed

Apr 17, 2016 12:01pm

Well a right and positive move, inzi is a kind of man you want to be around, A great God gifted player I wish players can take advantage of his skills but we need a similar kind as a coach too, someone like younis khan, mohammad yousuf or rashid latif or someone alike but again please keep afridi and his politics including akmal, shazad away from the team if you you really want success, they are just like a virus to Pakistan team, there need to be a lot of reshuffling

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Mohit

Apr 17, 2016 12:01pm

Right man for wrong job . Should have become coach

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Philosopher (from Japan)

Apr 17, 2016 12:04pm

Man should honor his words.

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gill

Apr 17, 2016 12:17pm

another blunder by pcb

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Shahramkhan

Apr 17, 2016 12:24pm

Baad decision.

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Ziaurrehman

Apr 17, 2016 12:28pm

Inzi is a legend but so was waqar younis. As long as political interference remains in Pak sports legends cannot do anything.

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Dickens

Apr 17, 2016 01:21pm

He was pursuing his career as head coach and now someone wants him to be Cheif selector? Please make him Head Coach and select someone else as the Chief Selector who has been in touch with domestic circuit for sometime in past.

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Truth hurts

Apr 17, 2016 01:29pm

He is a man of few words, reserved & would be a great choice for Pakistan. During pre t20 world cup interview on aaj tak neither Kapil Dev, Ganguly, Azhar, Waseem Akram or rest of the panel predicted England as semifinalist which Inzy bhai made true.

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Adnan Mazher Khan

Apr 17, 2016 01:46pm

Asim Kamal, Fawad Alam and few of these type of players from Karachi will not be able to get chance to play for Pakistan. Lets hope he does his job on merit.

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Apr 17, 2016 01:47pm

The job of a selector should entail lot of travelling throughout the country. Not sure if PCB or Inzy really understand what that job should be. As I said, get a 100 million dollars and wean away all good young players away from PCB and start a rebel board. Preferably outside Pak and UAE.

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Fez

Apr 17, 2016 01:52pm

Nice face saving exercise by PCB to keep up their coffers. Offer the role to someone liked by many, use him , abuse him and when everything goes wrong, blame him and make him the scapegoat. Do the PCB not know how much Inzamam loathes Misbah, Pakistans greatest captain? Havent we been here before. Bye bye Pakistan cricket, and cricket in general.

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Umair

Apr 17, 2016 02:07pm

When are we having a new chairman?? Or in all this hallaballo, Mr sheharyar has sneaked another contract as this nation is suffering from short term memory loss.

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junaid

Apr 17, 2016 02:10pm

Although Inzi is a better choice than what we been having in the past but that would still not solve the issue. Our domestic structure is so weak and rated 2nd class that you have to select players from that no matter who the chief selector is.

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Yasir Karamat

Apr 17, 2016 02:18pm

A new innocent face picked for scapegoating by the PCB. If deserved players are still ignored then they'll just pick another one.

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Farooq

Apr 17, 2016 02:20pm

Inzi was super talented and amazing batsman but always had reputation of being lazy. As chief selector, I thought we would get someone who is completely involved in domestic structure and would attend local matches to spot talent since this guy is so lazy, he might be similar to haroon rasheed also if team loses badly, they will make him scapegoat he is better suited as a batting coach

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Zulu

Apr 17, 2016 02:33pm

Not Sure if this will work

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SSH

Apr 17, 2016 02:40pm

Nice Decision !

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Gaf

Apr 17, 2016 02:40pm

Inzi is one of most sincere cricketers around. And not to forget a top class batsman if past 20 years. He will intentionally not make a wrong decision. But I would prefer a complete new look and setup, with foreign selector and coach. This will eliminate any suspicious decession or favouritism.

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Muhammad Arshad

Apr 17, 2016 03:12pm

Good Choice......

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Fahad

Apr 17, 2016 03:28pm

Inzi made a blunder. He will regret his decision of joining Pcb.

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Naveed Farooqui Qatar

Apr 17, 2016 03:35pm

Inzi wrong man for wrong job, during his tenure in england he walkout during the match and Pakistan lost, second time for his retirement he claimed RS.10 M from pcb. Inzi is controversial figures in Pak cricket and he have similar result like waqar who lost rest due to lost of odi w/cp 2015 and t20 w/cps waqar = Inzi = result Zero.

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Syed Hassan

Apr 17, 2016 03:58pm

It all depends, whether Inzi accepts any intervention from the higher ups (PCB Chief & Chairman) in his selection matters. It also depends, who else is hired for selection committee. If the intervention is there, then Inzi will face the same fate as Haroon Rasheed.

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DIL DIL PAKISTAN

Apr 17, 2016 04:26pm

Good decision but Najam sheti and shahryar khan should remove from pcb

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Shehzad

Apr 17, 2016 04:35pm

Inzi should have been with Afghanistan team. I give Inzi 6 months maximum.

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Jawad

Apr 17, 2016 04:43pm

I didn't know afghanistan had Cricket team until they made to t20 wc.

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Asif

Apr 17, 2016 05:43pm

Don't expect Inzamam to be above politics,bias and groupings.

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Afridi

Apr 17, 2016 05:47pm

Inzimam would be good as the batting coach at National Academy, not directly involved with the national team. He would bring back groupings, selecting favored players and not selecting players he does not like, especially who are not religious enough. Anyone remember that it was in his tenure as captain that Misbah never played, Asim Kamal hardly played. Since he is now the chief selector so he should consider it as a full time job and go to as many matches as possible and personally see these players play and judge them.

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Saad

Apr 17, 2016 06:19pm

He is not the right person for the job. He is shy, short-tempered, run away from media. He is amazing cricketer but a weak personality. He played 20 years cricket and toured across the globe but was not able to learn few words of universal language. He converted the team into a branch of JI. With all due respect, he is not fit for the post. We need someone like Wasim Akram or Ramiz Raja to fit into this position.

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Ali

Apr 17, 2016 06:33pm

There is no doubt about his abilities but he should have remained away from dirty world of Pakistan cricket, He would have got more respect in afghanistan. Bad decision by INZI, PCB dont deserve people like INZI, sooner or later he will also be humiliated... PCB should name intikhab alam as their selector, He is the man fit for dirty PCB.

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Khurram Jadoon

Apr 17, 2016 07:06pm

Though I love Inzi batting but he's not fit for this job.

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Basit Ali

Apr 17, 2016 07:30pm

OK so we have an ex-cricketer as the chief selector ...that should silence many a voices. One excuse less now

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Sam

Apr 17, 2016 07:31pm

Keeping Afridi skipper even after writing was on the wall Should cost chairman his job. Current PCB management does not deserve to be around and their decisions are very questionable. It should be a full clean slate with a new chairman finding the right team.

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Apr 17, 2016 07:55pm

Biggest disaster is to appoint him to do anything with Pakistan national cricket team. He will single handedly destroy whatever is currently left in this team.

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Alien

Apr 17, 2016 08:27pm

Another desiaster. ...

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george

Apr 17, 2016 08:39pm

Bad choice. Now the team will be selected not on the merits but based on their religious beliefs. Don't forget it was Inzi who kept Misbah out of the team during Misbah's peak age.

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Javid

Apr 17, 2016 10:09pm

God bless Pakistani cricket.

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RIZ

Apr 17, 2016 11:40pm

Not seeing this will go well but time will tell.

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Rajan Mahadevan

Apr 18, 2016 04:52am

Dear Inzy, Congrats and best of luck! You start out with one huge advantage, which is that, Pakistan cricket performance has dived so low that from here, it can only go up. You have spent the past 25 years in international cricket and I hope you are given full support from the powers that be, so that you can make Pakistan among the top cricket nations in performance (not talent). Rajan

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