Pakistan Sports Body asks PCB to avoid extension to Cricket director Mohammad Hafeez amid team’s poor performance

Pakistan’s sports ministry has urged the country’s cricket board not to extend the contract with Mohammad Hafeez. He is currently in two roles with the team, including the post of director of cricket. Hafeez assumed the role after Pakistan’s poor performance in the 2023 ODI World Cup.

The board had initially submitted a contract for approval, anticipating a long-term arrangement for Hafeez and others. However, the sports ministry has advised them to continue with a short-term agreement that concludes after the ongoing T20 series in New Zealand.

There are reports that Hafeez and the newly appointed coaching staff were assured long-term contracts, but recent developments suggest otherwise. The team’s performance under Hafeez’s leadership has been disappointing, marked by losses in all Tests against Australia and the ongoing T20I series in New Zealand.

“The contract was for a long-term period, but the board was told to just continue with the short-term arrangement with Hafeez, which ends after the T20 series in New Zealand,” a reliable source told a media outlet.

“Now it appears that this is not going to happen, and as it is, the performance of the team has also been very bad under Hafeez and the other coaches, as they have lost all Tests in Australia and now the T20I series in New Zealand,” he further added.

Is the sports ministry interfering with the work of PCB?

Mohammad Hafeez took charge alongside coaches Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal and foreign coaches Simon Helmot and Adam Hollioake ahead of the Test series against Australia. However, Yasir Arafat replaced Helmot as the high-performance coach before the T20I series in New Zealand.

Foreign coaches, including Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn, and Andrew Puttick, were reassigned to Pakistan’s National Cricket Academy after the 2023 ODI World Cup. The trio did not accompany the team to New Zealand, resigning later with undisclosed financial agreements with the PCB.

Furthermore, the sports ministry has not permitted the cricket board to organise a T10 league or convene a meeting to establish a new board of governors. These developments indicate a significant shake-up in Pakistan cricket administration, raising questions about the direction and leadership of the national team in the upcoming months.