October 31 Thursday 2002
PCB's shabby treatment forced me to part ways: Mudassar

LAHORE: Pakistan former cricket coach, Mudassar Nazar said he parted ways with the Pakistan Cricket Board due to the shabby treatment meted out to him and the way he was sacked as a coach.

"It hurts. The way I was treated by the PCB. It was contrary to the status of a former Test cricketer as I was called back midway from ICC Trophy in Colombo and was asked to leave," he said in an interview from Dubai on Wednesday.

Mudassar will soon be launching a life insurance business from Dubai. In his first sharp reaction after parting with PCB, he said the Board authorities were making decisions without taking into consideration its consequences and such acts were harming the cause of cricket in Pakistan.

Mudassar was signed as a coach last year till World Cup 2003 but was fired in September after Pakistan team badly failed in one-day events at Morocco, Kenya and Colombo.

"I was the coach till the Cup but I was held responsible for everything (defeats) which was not fair as there were other team officials including the manager whose unnecessary involvement made things difficult in carrying out my job."

He said it was the job of the PCB as well the manager to control the senior players and to ensure that they performed according to their potential and "as a coach I tried to accomplish this task but there were number of hurdles which I failed to overcome."

"As a coach I ensured to motivate the team as a winning combination and I accomplished this task to some extent but when there is interference from some quarters one cannot perform according to plans," he said.

Mudassar said he stepped down as the head coach of the PCB academies because he did not want a demotion after serving as the coach of national team.

"PCB treated me badly and after such indecent treatment there was no justification to continue in any manner in the Board," he said.

The former Test cricketer said team manager Yawar Saeed and captain Waqar Younis failed in their respective jobs which resulted in the overall decline of the team in the previous events. "Coach alone cannot handle all the affairs when the players are bigger than institutions, but I always tried to create liaison and develop harmony among the players," he said.

Responding to a question, he said he would not like to comment on the observations of Waqar Younis that Richard Pybus was a better coach than him. "I know well about my abilities in the field of cricket and I do not need any observation or praise from a captain or anyone. Such statements are personal views of an individual and carry no weight or importance," he concluded.