Islamabad, August 30: Former batsman and team manager Zaheer Abbas, who is one of the members of the committee constituted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to hunt for a new head coach to succeed Waqar Younis, has expressed his preference for a Pakistani coach.

"My preference is for the next coach of the Pakistan cricket team to be Pakistani. The team has made strides under Waqar''s leadership and we need to build on this," PakPassion. net quoted Abbas, as saying.

Abbas feels that it would be extremely difficult for a non-Asian coach to perform the role, given the "situation" in Pakistan.

"Although not entirely against a foreign coach, I think a non-Asian coach would be worried about the situation in Pakistan, and this may affect the time he can spend in the country and how well he can perform the job," he explained.

Talking about the qualities expected in an ideal candidate for the head coach position, Abbas said that the individual should be "non-controversial, someone who has played at the highest level of the game for a lengthy period of time, and must be a mature person."

He further said that the next coach should be awarded a long-term contract, and that his job specification should be communicated to all concerned parties, so there is no confusion in responsibilities.

"I''d prefer if the next coach was given a 3-year contract. That way he knows that he has some security in the role and some time to mould the team. In addition, the role and responsibilities of the coach should be made clear to the coach himself and the captain, meaning that there should be no confusion on what the coach''s responsibility and domain is and there is no overlapping of duties," said the former team manager.
(ANI)