LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has appointed former Test spinner Nadeem Khan as the coordinator of the national selection committee following a recruitment process.

“Nadeem will act as a bridge between chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq and the six selectors by gathering feedback, information and maintaining players’ profile from the domestic matches, and presenting to the selection committee so that the data can be used in their decision-making,” the PCB said in a press release on Thursday.

“Nadeem will neither be part of the national selection committee nor will have a say in selection matters.

“Part of Nadeem’s responsibilities will require domestic travelling, watching local matches, keeping a track and preparing reports on high-performing players, and speaking with the six city association coaches on a regular basis.”

Not long after the PCB appointed Misbah as the national side’s head-coach-cum-chief selector, it decided to advertise the opening for a coordinator.

Interestingly, the advertisement came days after Misbah had said himself after the first round of the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy that the provincial coaches were sending him reports on every match and he was also receiving the video recordings of the matches so there was no problem in picking up fresh talent.

It may be mentioned that many former cricketers had termed the decision of assigning too many jobs to Misbah as an injudicious one as they believed it would not be easy for the former skipper to single-handedly carry out the jobs.

It also came as a surprise to many that a wise person like Misbah accepted PCB’s offer knowing fully well what it would entail.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2019