Former Pakistan captain and star batter Mohammed Hafeez has been appointed the director of the national cricket team. He was recently part of the PCB Cricket Technical Committee.
The move comes in the wake of Pakistan's dismal performance in the ongoing ICC ODI World Cup in India, where they failed to qualify for the semifinals, having lost five of the nine matches.
Babar Azam had stepped down as captain yesterday, taking responsibility for the team's poor outing in the World Cup. Pakistan legend Inzamam-ul-Haq, too, had recently stepped down as the chief selector because of conflict of interest allegations. In fact, speculations were rife that Hafeez could become the chairman of the selection committee.
Hafeez's appointment as director could see the exit of the now former team director and coach Mickey Arthur and head coach Grant Bradburn.
Hafeez played 55 Tests, 218 ODIs and 119 T20Is and scored 12,780 runs and took 253 wickets. The former all-rounder was part of the Pakistan team which won the ICC Champions Trophy in England in 2017.
The PCB said it will announce the new coaching staff in due course for the upcoming series in Australia and New Zealand.
Pakistan announced the new captains
Shan Masood has been appointed the skipper of the Pakistan Test team and will lead it till the end of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle.
Masood has played 30 Tests, scoring 1,597 runs, which includes four centuries and seven half-centuries but was overlooked for the Asia Cup and World Cup. His first assignment will be a three-match Test series in Australia starting on December 14.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, meanwhile, has been made the T20 captain. His first assignment will be the five-match T20I series in New Zealand from January 12 to 21. The 23-year-old Afridi has captained Lahore Qalandars to two Pakistan Super League titles in the last two years.
The PCB said that Pakistan's ODI captain will be announced in due course of time.
