DUBAI, Nov 1: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been assured that wisdom of Mudassar Nazar remains just a telephone call away by his new employers at the Dubai Sports City.

Mudassar will join the ICC Global Cricket Academy at the DSC, having been unveiled as one of academy’s new coaches earlier this month — weeks before job of Pakistan coach was vacated by Geoff Lawson.

The PCB was keen to appoint a Pakistani replacement. With Mudassar already Dubai-bound, Intikhab Alam, 66, was handed the reins.

However, former Test captain Asif Iqbal, in a column, claimed Mudassar — 14 years Intikhab’s junior — would have been better suited to job.

Asif wrote: “If he [Mudassar] is good enough to be a coach for the ICC — as I am certain he is — should he not have been good enough as a coach for Pakistan? And going on from there, as a Pakistani, should not the PCB have made first move to acquire his services?”

Marc Archer, general manager of the Global Cricket Academy, believes Mudassar’s arrival in Dubai could still be beneficial to Pakistan’s cricketers. “We would love to have players come from the PCB and train at our academy, where we could provide them with games and training facilities.

“They would not only get Mudassar involved with that coaching, but also Rod Marsh and Dayle Hadlee [academy’s other two full-time coaches]. Mudassar has done stints with Pakistan in the past, but it is difficult with PCB as with changes of government there, things change quickly. One of things that probably attracted Mudassar to the Global Cricket Academy is job stability,” Archer added.—Agencies