LAHORE: Downplaying the brewing debate over the double role of national selector and white-ball head coach given to him by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently, Aaqib Javed on Wednes­day said his primary focus currently was on One-day Internationals due to the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy.

“There is a slight difference in the reality. There is a thing called experience. I have been coaching for the last 20 years at domestic and international level. While defining the double role, when I took up the position as [national] selector we always consulted the captain and the coach before announcing the best side,” national selector Aaqib, who got an additional assignment of interim white-ball team coach recently, said while answering a question on the subject of an official’s dual role during his media talk here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday.

“However, so far from Multan [Test against England] to the three-match ODI series in Australia there was no change in the team.”

He continued, “The team which played the Multan Test was retained for the Rawalpindi Test. Similarly, the team which played the first ODI against Australia was kept same for the next two matches. So I don’t think there is any problem because our objective is to select the best team for Pakistan.”

Interestingly, Aaqib in the past criticised the dual roles given to former Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq and ex-pace bowler Wahab Riaz.

Former Test pacer Aaqib replaced Gary Kirsten as Pakistan while-ball coach after the latter resigned just a week before the limited-overs series Down Under.

Aaqib insisted that it was a responsibility for him to build a team which could earn desired results.

“We beat England [in the home Test series] and then no one could imagine that Pakistan would win the ODI series in Australia after 22 years. I think there are many positives for us as far as [team] selection is concerned. Coaching is also not a new thing for me,” he said.

Pakistan after suffering an innings thrashing at the hands of England in Multan, make an exhilarating comeback to win the next two Tests and the series. Out-of-form frontline players including Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah were axed by Aaqib, who got the selector’s job immediately after the first Test, and fellow selectors, a move which clicked for the hosts.

Aaqib, who worked as director cricket operations and bowling consultant of PSL franchise Lahore Qalandars from 2016 to 2024, said his primary focus was on ODI cricket and the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy.

“Our main focus will remain on ODI cricket and you will see regular changes in the team for the T20 format as the [next] T20 World Cup is currently far away,” he said.

To a question about the absence of opener Fakhar Zaman from the national team, Aaqib said that the southpaw was a match-winner who faced some fitness problems.

“As soon as he [Fakhar] gets fit, we will consider him for [national] selection.”

Aaqib reckoned that the role of a coach for players was limited noting that he could only give a loud and clear message to players and help them in training while it was the job of captain and his team to produce good results.

Commenting on Pakistan’s recently-held T20 series in Australia which the hosts won 3-0, the head coach regretted that the Greenshirts could not avail some opportunities that came their way.

“The first match became shorter [seven-overs-a side due to rain]. Pakistan got some opportunities in the remaining two games but those were wasted. In this format once you miss an opportunity, you have very little time to come back,” Aaqib underlined.

Aaqib said that young opener Saim Ayub was not selected for the T20 series in Australia because he was developing in the right direction in Tests and ODIs after taking a modest start in these two formats.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2024