Newly appointed Pakistan white-ball coach Aaqib Javed‘s primary focus during his interim stint will be ODI cricket and the Champions Trophy, and he wants to test the bench strength in the shortest format. Aaqib, who will serve in the role until the end of the Champions Trophy next year, will fly out to Zimbabwe for his first assignment later this week – three ODIs and three T20Is starting November 24.
“Our main focus at the moment is on ODI cricket ahead of the Champions Trophy,” Aaqib said. “You’ll see a settled team in this format. You’ll see changes in the T20I format. We plan to give new players chances in the Zimbabwe series. It is a message and opportunity to the new players to take the chances they’ve been given. If you don’t give new players chances, you’ll never get the opportunity to improve your bench strength.
“Australia has never been an easy tour. When the team went, if we had said we were going to win the series, people would have thought it impossible. Under the new captain [Mohammad Rizwan], they showed the world they could do it after 22 years [by winning 2-1]. They also had chances in the three T20Is, but if you don’t avail your chances, you won’t win.”
Aaqib’s rise within Pakistan cricket has been meteoric. Earlier this summer, he was Sri Lanka’s fast bowling coach with no involvement at the PCB. Just five weeks ago, he was nominated to Pakistan’s selection committee after its latest revamp. With the PCB’s top brass viewing him as the mastermind behind Pakistan’s Test series turnaround in England, his stock has soared.
Shortly after his appointment, the PCB also confirmed he would keep his place on the selection committee during his stint as coach, something that full-time Test coach Jason Gillespie no longer has, and was partly the reason why Aaqib’s predecessor, Gary Kirsten, quit the role.
Aaqib, though, sought to portray his selection responsibilities as a collaborative rather than top-down arrangement. “We always consult the coach and captain, and then the selection committee announces the team,” he said. “From Multan until now, there has been consistency in selection. Asad Shafiq was on the Australia tour. His role was to discuss selection with the coach and captain, and present a final team, which would be discussed by the selection committee, who make the final decision. Now, instead of Asad, it’ll be me, but the final XI will still be decided by the committee. The selection committee is not just me; it is a panel of five people.
“I’ve been coaching for 20 years. The coach’s role does have a limit. You can create an environment and give out loud, clear messages about the type of cricket you expect them to play, and help prepare them. But in the end, the players and captain provide the results.”
Aaqib is aware of the scrutiny and criticism a coaching job entails; indeed, he was a critic of a number of his predecessors, taking particular aim at what he saw as Misbah-ul-Haq’s dual role, when he was the chief selector as well as the head coach. With Aaqib in an uncomfortably similar position; now, though, he believed the cases could not be directly compared.
“My case is slightly different from the cases you mentioned,” he said. “I am not the chief selector, but part of a panel. I do not view it as a problem because we all want to select players who do the best for Pakistan.
“Criticism is inevitable and can be healthy. It is within a player’s control whether people praise or criticise him. That also goes for the team. Criticism and praise all depends on your performance. I’ll be the first one to accept criticism if merited.”
Pakistan’s Zimbabwe tour will starts with the ODIs on November 24, 26 and 28 followed by the T20Is on December 1, 3 and 5. All games will be played in Bulawayo.
Danyal Rasool is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent. @Danny61000
