PCB In Mess! Wants To Sack Azhar Mahmood But Forced To Give Him New Role As...
The prickly situations at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) seem never-ending. After recently being found at fault for financial irregularities worth millions, it is now being reported that they want to sack Azhar Mahmood but are forced to keep him on the books, even giving him the role of the interim national red-ball coach.
According to a report in the news agency PTI, which quoted a PCB insider, the board's contract with Mahmood runs till April-May of 2026 and under it, firing him before that would require them to pay a severance fees, equivalent of his salary for six months — approximately PKR 450 million (USD 160,000 or Rs 1.37 crore).
'Which is why the PCB recently named him as interim head coach of the national red-ball team until his contract expires next year in April-May," the quoted source said. 'The problem arose when Mike Hesson, the recently-appointed white-ball head coach made it clear he would have his own support staff and Azhar was not among his selections. This left the PCB with a major problem of how to utilise Azhar's expertise to justify paying him such a handsome salary, as even if they wanted they couldn't release him without the six months of compensation," they added.
Meanwhile, Mahood is not said to be too happy with the situation either. He has made requests to be assigned to the national junior team, but that hasn't been sanctioned.
The report said the PCB faced similar issues while trying to release Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq, Misbah ul Haq and Sarfaraz Ahmed from their contracts as mentors of the domestic teams in the Champions Cup events. The contracts had to be canceled after just one season.
Mahmood, 50, played 23 Tests and 143 ODIs for Pakistan between 1996 and 2007, taking 162 international wickets and scoring over 2400 runs across the two formats. His first assignment will be a visit from South Africa to Pakistan later in the year for a two-match tour.
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